'The Hungry' generation

KOLKATA: Bornila Chatterjee is a writer and filmmaker who divides her time between Brooklyn and Kolkata. Her debut film titled '

Let's Be Out

, The Sun Is Shining’ premiered at the 2012 New York Indian Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award. From 2010 to 2013, Bornila was the managing director of

Stonestreet Studios

, a screen acting school and advanced conservatory in the Department of Drama at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Bornila was one of eight writers selected for the 2011 JT3 Foundation For Young People in the Arts/Writers Guild of

America East Foundation Mentorship Program

held in New York. She is a 2014 fellow of the Sundance Institute/Mumbai Mantra Screenwriters Lab and holds a BFA in Film and Television from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Bornila's 'The Hungry' has been selected to have its world premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Tanaji Dasgupta has worked in the project as screenwriter and producer. This film is set in the backdrop of Indian wedding and delves into the murky world of politics and big business while revisiting the Shakespearean tragedy of ‘Titus Andronicus’ as part of a year-long celebration of Shakespeare's influence in contemporary life. It is the first India-UK co-production to emerge from the Microwave International: Shakespeare India series of workshops which concluded in early-July 2015. Excerpts from an interview with Bornila:

What prompted you to take up film-making as a career?

I was always really into in performance and drama. As a child, I wanted to be a clown when I grew up. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be an actor. I did plays with Red Curtain and Seagull in Kolkata and spent all my spare time in the theatre. It was awesome. My interest in filmmaking sort of naturally grew from there. I had no idea how films were made. To me, it all felt very mysterious and magical and I wanted to learn the craft and be able to create that magic and that mystery myself.

Having done your schooling in Kolkata and being aware of the kind of movies Bengal is churning out currently, how different was your film school experience in New York?

My first year in New York was a huge culture shock. When I was growing up, the internet wasn’t what it is today and the world felt that much larger. Suddenly, I was in a city full of museums and libraries and theaters and niche cinema halls. I devoured it all! And at Tisch, I was surrounded by people studying acting and writing and filmmaking and photography. People who loved and were interested in the things I loved and I was interested in. It was a really special experience.

Among the contemporary Bengali film directors, whose work do you find interesting?
Q and Aditya Vikram Sengupta.

Q and Aditya Vikram Sengupta are independent directors. What do you have to say about the works of other middle-of-the-line directors (including Kaushik Ganguly, Shiboprosad Mukherjee, Kamaleswar Mukherjee and Arindam Sil) who have had many more releases already?

I haven’t seen anything by them. I left Kolkata in 2004 and didn't return until 2013. Soon after, ‘The Hungry’ took off and working on that took up most of my time. Clearly there is a lot of catching up I have to do on contemporary Bengali films!

Adapting a literary text in the contemporary times is a challenge. Some often end up being very superficial. How did you consciously avoid that?

To be honest, that never crossed our minds. We just wanted to write a good story. We wanted to write something that felt truthful to the day and age that we live in, while honouring the spirit and characters of the original.

Describe the process of directing the legendary Naseeruddin Shah…

Working with him was such an incredible learning experience. He brought so much thought and vigour to the character and the script as a whole. From the minute he came on board, he was keen to read every draft we wrote and was totally open to brainstorming notes and ideas. His total involvement and willingness to do whatever it took to telling the best story possible really brought out the best in all of us, the entire cast and crew. This one time we had set up for a meeting scene that takes place in his character’s garden. We had just completed shooting a shot where his character gets a shave. He asked if the barber was still around and if so, could we use him in the meeting scene. He thought it would be interesting if his character was getting a head massage in the middle of this business scene and he was absolutely right - it totally elevates the moment and highlights the power dynamics between his character and everyone else in the scene.

When you had Naseeruddin Shah on board, weren’t you not tempted to narrate the film from his point of view?

What got everyone excited about the story from the get goes was that we wanted to take Shakespeare arch villain Tamora and turn her into our heroine Tulsi. Had the tragedy centered more on Tathagat then I think he would have lost the delicious edge that he has as the person she is trying so hard to take down.

How was the experience of shooting in the mud fort that has a historical significance?

Our shoot was insanely hectic because we were trying to pack a lot in such a short amount of time. But it was beautiful and surreal to wake up every morning in that fort and see the peacocks on the lawn, the monkeys on the parapets. For a couple of seconds, you could pretend you were on holiday. That fort is really suspended in time. You feel very cut off from the world outside and it was good to be able to seep ourselves in that atmosphere because that’s what we were trying to capture and heighten in the film.

After Toronto, what next?

More festivals for ‘The Hungry’ where more people get to see it, I hope! And Tanaji and I have been developing another story for a few years now; it’s a love story among a trio of misfits that takes place in a crumbling palace in Kolkata.

When does Kolkata get to watch this film?

Soon, I hope!