Arindam Sil has returned to the floor more than three months after he began shooting for ‘Mahananda’ on March 12. The shooting of this film, inspired by the life and works of author Mahasweta Devi, had continued for three days in a house on Nayan Chand Dutta Street and at Bharat Laxmi studio. “People are following all health protocols and maintaining social distance,” said the director who’s now an extremely busy person since he has to complete the Kolkata schedule in 20 days, that too involving 35 locations. After that, the unit will shift to Rampurhat. “Some locations in Bengal were only available from July. So we will return to shoot at the Burdwan Rajbari and the Nonapukur tram depot. Once that is done, we will go to Jhansi,” he said.
The film, which stars Gargee Roychowdhury, Debshankar Haldar, Ishaa Saha, Arna Mukhopadhyay and more, tells the story of an author called Mahananda, whose personality bears similarities with the life and persona of Mahasweta Devi.
The names of the characters have been changed in the film. While Mahasweta will be called Mahananda (Gargee), her husband, famous playwright Bijan Bhattacharya (Debshankar), will be called Bidhan Bhattacharya in the film.
Since ‘Mahananda’ is inspired by Mahasweta Devi, what’s Arindam trying to convey through this film?
“It is about her works, her philosophy. We are trying to portray how the work evolved through her philosophy of life. And how that reflected on the personality she developed. There was her personal life, and political and social life. All of which are extremely important. And they have evolved from certain principles. It flows like the river. From one generation to another. Today we need to talk about her philosophy, her uncompromising ethics,” explained the director.
If all goes according to plan and the situation normalizes, ‘Mahananda’ will hit the theatres during Durga Puja this year.
