Actor-turned-director Parambrata Chatterjee’s thirteenth directorial venture is not an easy watch. It is verbose (so either you are fluent in Bengali or a fast reader), deeply tragic and unabashedly resilient in its quest for the essence of life within the marital domain. Parambrata Chatterjee builds on the mounting tension to a nerve wracking degree. There are no pockets of relief in the storytelling, no smile breaks, no humorous interludes. Throbbing with tension and forebodings of impending mortality Ei Raat Tomar Amaar is a relentlessly grim tale of a marriage being rocked by piercing questioning on its fiftieth anniversary.
What is the genesis of this Bergmanesque marital drama?
For me, a lot of the emotion was organic because I always wanted to see my parents grow old together. Together or otherwise, I mean, no one can predict the future. So, I lost my… my father died when he was barely 50 and my mom’s when she was 62. So, I did not have the opportunity to do that. It was when I encountered the story and a script written in Hindi by an Assamese boy called Chiranjib Bordoloi in Mumbai, which was very different from what I have made eventually, but then the seed for the film definitely lay there. When I encountered that piece and I thought that, okay, this is… you know, this is what my parents could have been together when I would be like at my age today or maybe after another five years when I would be like in my late 40s or mid-40s, my parents would have completed 50 years of marriage. They would have been like this probably.
That’s how the journey began?
Yes, that started the journey with the help of Reena Di (Aparna Sen) and Anjan Da (Dutta). I think we changed the screenplay quite a bit. We felt that there was not much conflict in the original Hindi one and obviously, for cultural nuances for a standard North Indian society and Bengali society are quite different. So, those societal and cultural nuances had to be put in. Also, I think we wanted to incorporate more conflict and you know, make it more real and real in flesh and incorporate more human frailties. Whereas, we thought that the original one, although beautiful, was a bit sanitized.
What do you mean by sanitized?
I mean, it was probably avoiding uncomfortable questions on marriage somewhat. So, I took Chiranjib’s original screenplay and we also sort of went into a financial and commercial understanding and all of that was done and so. That is the reason why you know, the original screenplay and dialogues is mine in the credits and the original screenplay credits are his Chiranjib’s because it has had its own journey from the original to what we see on the screen today. And what we see on the screen today has a lot of organic emotions from my end and a lot of experience-driven emotions and inputs from both Reena di and Anjum da’s end.
Well, that’s an easy answer. I enjoy directing more, and that’s what I see myself doing more in the future. Having said that, I haven’t quit acting. In fact, this year, we’ll see a lot of my films as an actor releasing in Bangla as well as some in Hindi. But yes, I think I have made a conscious switch in the last two to three years from being a part-time director to a semi-part-time director, like a more full-time. A journey towards becoming a full-time filmmaker has begun a little more potently, I would say.
Anurag Kashyap recently commented on the commercialism of Bangla cinema? Does your film effectively quash his claim?
Look, what Anurag said, I partly agree with it and I partly disagree. I think what he presented was a generic view of how he perceives Bengali cinema. It’s not for one film, whether it is mine, whether it is someone else’s, to quash any claims. Good, bad, ugly, any claim. So, I don’t think that I would want to sort of acquire that position which single-handedly quashes Anurag’s claim. He didn’t even make a claim. He made a comment which came from a generic view of what he’s seen and I think from the part where I agree with him is Bengali cinema was never really known for huge blockbusters or like really sort of money-earning. I mean they were profitable, of course, but they were never like really big mainstream pot-boilers.
They were known for at least in the last about 50 years or so, for the last 50 years or so, 40-50 years, they were known mainly for their artistic finesse, their thought-provoking content and the ability to, you know, set a footprint internationally, represent Indian cinema internationally in all the big festivals. That certainly has gone down. I mean one can’t deny that. And I am surely not someone who could do that because I think in my sensibilities, I like making films for a wider audience.
Even this one that we are talking about now, Ei Raat Tomar Amaar is, I mean a lot of people have watched it because it has a certain, you know, it tugs on your heartstrings. It does consciously, you know, emotionally churn you. Whereas international cinema increasingly has become more and more minimalist. So, for whatever the reasons, multitude of reasons, I think the international footprint of Bengali cinema has essentially reduced in the last 10-15 years or so, 15-20 years or so, like two decades or one and a half decades. So by that logic, I think that was the only sort of, the prime yardstick to judge Bengali cinema.
Now, if that has gone down, that I don’t think there’s much point in going into the business aspect of Bengali cinema because that was never really very big. I think we are going to a transitional phase where we are also understanding the importance of business, of making money through films and we’re trying to strike a balance between the sensible or trying to kind of create a certain sensibility, which would bring about a bit of both and that takes time. That is the part where I do not agree with Anurag. I mean, the first part I do, the second part I do not because I do think there’s some very interesting work happening all over. Most of it is very mediocre. There are some interesting sparks and it’s the same with most industries, I would say.
Anurag also has gone on and made similar comments about his own industry, his own primary industry, about the Hindi film industry, that he said that the joy of filmmaking is gone from making Hindi films and I understand from what or from where he’s coming. So, it’s a situation everywhere, I think, to some extent that people are trying, people are not being able to survive only through artistry and neither are they being able to produce really big money churners with the right kind of ingredients. So, I think they’re trying to create a balance of both in almost all film industries here and that is from where the perceptions are becoming a little convoluted, I feel.
What do we see from you next?
Well, as a director, I already have completed two films. One is the sequel to a very popular 2013 release, which was directed by me only. It’s a film called Hawa Bodol. It’s going to come in 2025 itself. There’s another very atmospheric horror film that I have made, which is my current favourite genre that should come out early 2026. It’s again within a certain setting and with just two people and only very few other characters. So, these two films I’ve already completed. I’ve just finished shooting for a supernatural series for Hoi Choi, which I think is going to be very exciting. I shall be making the next edition of a very popular supernatural franchise that I started from 2023. It’s a franchise called Bhaduri Maushai and the first season came in 2023.
And I’m making another film very soon. I will be able to tell you details in about a month or so. So, all of this, as a director, I am also trying to get a footing for myself as a director in Hindi. That’s a much tougher journey and I do not want to do something in a hurry, in a rush. I want to do something absolutely worthwhile, something that I really believe in, that I want to make, be it a show, be it a movie, in Hindi. So, that’s a huge work in progress that’s going on. That’s also there. And as an actor, I think quite a few. It will start with Pohila Boishak. I will see two of my films releasing at the same time. One, of course, is Srijit Mukherje’s Kill Bill Society. It’s again a sequel. And another film called Sriman Vs. Srimati. It has Mithun Chakraborty and myself in it.
Then there are about three or four other films, which are already completed or a couple of them that I’m currently starting work on. And all of those are going to come out in the next seven to eight months or maybe a year. In the Hindi space as an actor, there’s a film that I’ve done with Huma Qureshi called Gulabi. It’s a very beautiful slice-of-life film. It’s for Jio Studios. There’s a Hindi series called Parinita for Jio Hotstar, which I have finished working for. And I’ve done a special appearance in this series called Khakee Chapter 2, the Bengal chapter, which is coming out pretty soon.
Looking forward to being a father?
I’ll be a father for the very first time. I only got married in 2023. So, now this is going to be the first time that I become a father. I married fairly late, I think. I mean, most people marry before at least in our country before my age. And yeah, it’s a very, very… It came to us as a very big surprise, actually, and a very happy and pleasant one. Yeah, we are thoroughly excited and a little anxious as well. And we are sort of going through the works right now. Yeah, I’m very excited, also a little bit nervous and absolutely thrilled with what the coming days hold for my wife and I.
The post Parambrata Chatterjee on his directorial Ei Raat Tomar Amaar, “Always wanted to see my parents grow old together, I did not have that opportunity” appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.
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