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NiceFilmmakers in search of RAY
Ray — an anthology of four short films based on auteur Satyajit Ray’s much-celebrated short stories — will make its way to Netflix on June 25. Abhishek Chaubey, the man behind films like Ishqiya, Udta Punjab and Sonchiriya, adapts Ray’s Barin Bhowmik’s Ailment to make Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa (starring Manoj Bajpayee and Gajraj Rao), while Vasan Bala, the director of the quirky Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, adapts Ray’s Spotlight into a short called Spotlight (starring Harshvarrdhan Kapoor, Radhika Madan, Chandan Roy Sanyal and Akansha Ranjan Kapoor). Srijit Mukherji takes on the task of adapting two of Ray’s shorts — Bahrupiya (Kay Kay Menon, Bidita Bag and Dibyendu Bhattacharya) based on Bahuroopi, and Bipin Choudhurir Smritibhram into Forget Me Not (Ali Fazal, Shweta Basu Prasad and Anindita Bose).
With the trailer of Ray dropping today, The Telegraph caught up for an exclusive chat with directors Srijit Mukherji, Abhishek Chaubey and Vasan Bala on the anthology, their earliest memories of Ray and the influence of the master on their craft.
What was the genesis of Ray?
Vasan Bala: Sayantan Mukherjee, who is the creator of the show, reached out, and there were a couple of short stories that he had shared. The first time when he mentioned it, it seemed like a great opportunity to me. I told myself, ‘Let me just jump in, take hold of this opportunity and make something’. That’s how simple it was.
Abhishek Chaubey: When Sayantan came and told me that there was a plan to do an adaptation of (Satyajit) Ray’s short stories, my first reaction was, ‘Finally!’ It’s something that I have been talking to people about over the years... that we should do something based on Ray’s short stories. I was thrilled at the opportunity, and then there was just the question of selecting the right one.
What made you pick the ones that you did?
Srijit Mukherji: In this anthology, we are projecting these stories in a much, much darker space than they were written in. The USP of the series is that the original stories were written for Young Adults, but our adaptations have gained in darkness and the final impact is much more adult, and almost in a Black Mirror kind of space. In that zone, I thought Bipin Choudhurir Smritibhram, which is called Forget Me Not in the anthology, lent itself to quite a mind-wrecking, almost nerve-wrangling end. It’s not there in the original story, but we have taken it there. It’s applicable to all four stories in the anthology.
Ali Fazal in Forget Me Not, directed by Srijit Mukherji
Sourced by the correspondent
The other story I have directed is Bahrupiya, based on Ray’s Bahuroopi. It’s chilling and quite dark in itself, but we have taken it a notch higher.
Abhishek: I had read Indigo (Neel Atanka) and some other short stories written by Ray babu. Somehow, I missed this story. The reason why I liked Barin Bhowmik’s Ailment (on which Abhishek’s Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa is based) was for the simple reason that most of Ray’s stories that I have read have an element of the sinister, the surreal, the macabre, and what very often gets missed in the reading of those stories is that he has his tongue firmly in his cheek... he’s got a great sense of humour, and his stories are peppered with that. But somehow, that gets lost. I found this story very funny and quite character-driven, with situational humour as well as character-driven humour and I thought that would translate very well into a unique adaptation.
Vasan: I think Abhishek touched upon a very important point. Humour is something that people don’t equate with Ray’s short stories at the get-go, but it’s a huge aspect of all his works. There is, of course, the drama and the emotions, but humour also plays a very important role. For me, Spotlight (based on Ray’s Spotlight) was a great opportunity because as a film-maker, you always want to make a film about films, about actors and artistes and their vanity and insecurities. There’s always that one story that you want to say, and Spotlight became that story for me because I wanted to delve into that world and also because Ray had laid out the blueprint of the conflict, with the potential for humour, so well in this story.
Did you treat your respective stories as part of an anthology or was the focus on making them independent identities?
Vasan: They are separate but because they are all written by Ray, somehow thematically it comes together, even though the voices and the expressions are all completely different. I haven’t seen the other films but one gets a sense of how mindset and psychology has been explored in a similar vein in all the films.
Abhishek: The common link between all the stories is the psychological exploration of the characters. We are happy that we got to work on different genres in the same anthology. It makes for a very full meal.
What’s your earliest memory of watching a Satyajit Ray film or reading a literary piece written by him?
Srijit: When I was around six or seven, I first read Ray in a short story collection, before I read his more famous Feluda or Shonku. It was his Ek Dojon Goppo and the first story I read in it was Septopaser Khide. The first film of his which I watched was Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne. And needless to say, both the story and the film left an everlasting impact on me.
Vasan: Likewise, the first film I saw, thanks to Doordarshan, was Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne. The music, the look and feel... it was fantasy, so at that age, it made a huge impression on me.
Abhishek: As a child, I lived in Ranchi in a colony where there were many Bengali families. I remember there was a fever of excitement because Doordarshan was showing Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne. I saw his other films when I went to college, and that’s when I read his stories as well.
Which piece of Ray’s work has had the most profound impact on you?
Srijit: For me, it has been Nayak. I started my career with Autograph, which is a kind of tribute to Nayak. It’s like a film within a film. I think Nayak, in many ways, is an underrated film of Ray’s. People don’t speak of it in the same reverential tone they use for the Apu trilogy or even Charulata and the other classics. For me, Nayak is the perfect amalgamation of the two very unique and distinct faces of the Bengali film industry — one, the international, the niche, the eclectic and the other, the more mainstream and commercial. The film looks at not only the film industry, but also at the various socio-economic strata and their representatives, human frailties.... There is humour, pathos, reflection, and everything comes together in an overnight journey. The hint of a romantic relationship is so beautifully and subtly dealt with. It’s not really a road movie with romance thrown in, but there is a hint of so many genres in this remarkable concoction of a film. A lot of Nayak’s appeal is, of course, also due to the presence of the matinee idol Uttam Kumar, but overall, I think it’s the most impactful film. So much so that there was a time during my university days when we would converse only using Nayak dialogues!
Vasan: Initially, it was Nayak for me as well. But later, I strayed into Aranyer Din Ratri, and stayed with it for a while. I think because I was just graduating at that time and there would be those aimless afternoons... one friend would have a vehicle and we would all piggyback and go on these really directionless adventures. Somehow that stayed with me, this journey of these four guys who venture into the jungle. It’s not an adventure film, in that sense, it’s a very contained kind of adventure.... In a very strange way, the film affects me... their journey, the people they meet, the power structure, the sense of entitlement. This film stays with me even now.
Abhishek: It keeps changing in my case because Ray has such a wide oeuvre. There are so many films that we love so much! Of late, I have been thinking a lot about Mahanagar and Pratidwandi. I was thinking of Pratidwandi the other day and the young man’s rage that is there in the film.
Source- Telegraph 09.06.2021
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