It���s an informal adda, people are relaxed, conversation is flowing ��� when Aniket Chattopadhyay drops the bombshell. ���There has been a major theft on the sets,��� he complains to Pritimoy Chakraborty of the film city, where he���s been shooting for the past 10 days for ���Room No. 103���. There���s a hushed silence and the guests exchange uneasy glances. But then, Aniket breaks into a grin.
The lost article is a poem by
Soumitra Chatterjee, and there are some things that money can���t buy.
For those not in the know, Soumitra has a big collection of poems to his credit. ���The scene we were s h o o t i n g i nvo l ve d a lot of movement and there were many actors apart from Soumitrada. To get that perfect shot, we had around 8 takes. Soumitrada was standing there all along and I was wondering how to make him comfortable. That���s when he told me,
���Ami toh kaj i korchhi, byasto hochho keno?��� He showed me the lovely lines that he had penned while standing there. I was stunned,��� says Aniket.
But there was a shock in store for the director when he got over with the shot. ���I wanted to add the poem to my personal collection, but by the time I was done, the page had been torn out. Seeing my disappointment, Soumitrada promised to write out the poem again from memory.
That���s when he came up with the lines ��� ���When the lights are low you remember the dawn/ When the light is low on your eyes a cry comes piercing the evening/ A cry you have carried from the dawn/ You remember the cry for you have carried the cry/ A cry that is now piercing the sky/ Piercing when the lights are low���.
During the 10-day shoot, Soumitra wrote five poems, which are all with the director now. ���They are my property. I���m all for innovative marketing and have offered something new with each release. This time round, I want to come out with a compilation of Soumitrada���s poems,��� he says. In the film, the actor plays the manager of a hotel, Raat Din, and narrates the stories of different boarders, which forms the crux of the film. ���The poems create the feel of the story,��� Aniket waxes poetic. Here���s to a happy ending.