‘We have treated it like a heterosexual love story’

The challenge for Ganguly and Ghosh lay in making the love story look as real ‘as any heterosexual relationship’. “Male homosexuality has not been dealt with in Bengali cinema prior to this. While female homosexuality caters to voyeuristic inclinations of a section of the society,it becomes a little difficult for the parochial Indian society to deal with male homosexuality. More because it conjures up a vivid image of physicality and people tend not to dwell on its emotional implications,” says Ghosh. His debut film,he feels,should urge people to look beyond the stereotype.

Though Ghosh and Chapal Bhaduri had interacted in the course of the shooting,the director didn’t insist on a forced imitation of Bhaduri’s character. Also,Ghosh was playing a much younger Bhaduri in the film,something that only an actor’s vision assists him in successfully portraying. “I play two characters who perform feminity in their own separate ways. One being the filmmaker,the other being Bhaduri’s character in the film within the film. I had to bring out the distinction between the two. As a director,I know,it’s not an easy thing to portray. I would be extremely happy if an actor,in my film,would do that convincingly,” says Ghosh. “I had to introduce an interpretation of Chapal da’s character through mine in the film.”

His director agrees that if anyone else were to step into Ghosh’s shoes in the film,he would probably end up mimicking or plain imitating Bhaduri.

“I am pretty democratic as a director and I always encourage workable suggestions from people around. And in my 17-year career I have come to understand the sanctity of the word ‘director’. Even though Kaushik is my junior,he was the captain of ship and I honoured his position,” says Ghosh.

Ghosh is the set designer of the project too and Ganguly was amazed at how he portrayed how a human being’s body language changes with the body clock – a feeling that we all know,but hardly see actors portraying on screen. “He is a very academic person and studies every aspect of a film deeply. I was stunned by the way he portrayed the physical states of a person at various times of a day,” says Ganguly.

Ghosh’s audience,one is aware,comprises a sizable section of the Bengali middle class. Though Ghosh has dealt with sexuality,homosexuality isn’t something he had tried exploring in his films. On asking if he had apprehensions about the reaction of his audience to his onscreen experiment with acting and homosexuality,Ghosh says that he believes in subscribing to his director’s vision completely,without speculations. “Even in my women centric films,I have been known to address issues that one would presume,might outrage middle class morality. But I am recognized as a courageous filmmaker and my audience would see Arekti Premer Golpo as an extension of my creative values. I think I can handle the unconventional,” says Ghosh.