‘Beline’ fame Samik Roy Choudhury to be back with suspense thriller ‘Maya Satya Bhram’

Some say the first touch of success is often nothing but the work of a fluke! Some might say the same about Samik Roy Choudhury, the director of one of the most talked-about Bengali films of 2024, ‘Beline’. ‘Beline’, the psychological thriller that had its theatrical release back in March, and found momentum solely based on its engaging storyline, intriguing screenplay, and noteworthy performance. After the critical and commercial success of ‘Beline’, Samik is back to the base with his next project, ‘Maya Satya Bhram’. The first look of the film is out now.

Samik Roy Choudhury, who holds a keen interest in human psychology, admits that his work often reflects his interest in that subject. ‘Maya Satya Bhram’ is no different. The story of his upcoming film is based on spirituality and certain philosophy of nature and humanity. However, at the same time, ‘Maya Satya Bhram’ is set to be a genre-bending film as it brushes around crime, suspense, and many thrills. As per the film’s creator, it will be made in a fictional biography format.

As per the story of ‘Maya Satya Bhram’, two haunting disappearances over the past seven months altered the dynamic of lives around the Prafulla Nagar police station in Kolkata. The first disappearance involves Totoro, the 8-year-old son of Sub-Inspector Sanjay Konar. The second one is Sara, a Swedish film production assistant and researcher, who was in India to study shamans. At first glance, the two cases seem unrelated. However, a disturbing yet intriguing investigation links both disappearances to a mysterious figure known as Trilokadarshi Baba.

The parents of the kid, SI Sanjay Konar and his wife Urmila go through a difficult phase in the quest of finding their son Totoro. The mystery of Trilokdarshi Baba and his journey unfolds as they narrow down the possibilities of connecting both the cases together.

The plot of ‘Beline’ revolved around an old, single man who was lonely in his retired life, until a random phone call one day changed the course of his life. That phone call became the window to peep into that girl and her live-in partner’s life. As time progressed, the equation evolved, and along with that the dynamic that held the point of view of a voyeur.

With ‘Maya Satya Bhram’, Samik aims to weave a parallel world that peeks into human psychology and explores the grey areas of the human mind.

What drove Samik to come up with yet another intriguing story after ‘Beline’? Samik told ETimes, “When ‘Beline’ was at the peak of its success, whatever ‘success’ means.. I was flooded, and quite honestly overwhelmed with people reaching out to be to express their thoughts. I was, and I still am grateful for that. I have absorbed as much as I could, as much as I thought I needed to. I was quite pumped with the response I had received. So, I escaped!” Samik added, “I took a break and stayed almost off-grid around the mountains for more than a week. The story of ‘Maya Satya Bhram’ came to me around then. I had the keynotes of the story already at the back of my mind. I developed the script and screenplay in those few days.”

Samik revealed that when he narrated the story to his producers and investors, they were hooked to it. And that was the green signal he needed to get going with ‘Maya Satya Bhram’. Was it tricky to find a suitable cast for the film? Samik told ETimes that it took them quite a while to zero down on the lead cast. As per the writer-director himself, “I had Swastika Mukherjee in my mind when I was writing the character of Urmila. But when I finished sketching the character, it transformed. Incidentally, I worked with Priyanka (Sarkar) on another project and I was pleasantly surprised to see how flexible and comfortable it was to work with her. It felt like she could pull the character off.” What about the male lead? As per Samik, “The search for a capable actor for the role of Sanjay Konar has been a work! I approached a few big names in the Bengali entertainment industry for the role, including Ritwick Chakraborty, but things just didn’t work out. In that sense, casting Soham in the character has almost been like a divine intervention. Things just fell into place with him. And now as I can see, he is so much invested, and probably more excited than me for the project!”

When will the shoot go underway? Samik revealed that the pre-production for ‘Maya Satya Bhram’ is already underway. With workshops and brainstorming sessions, the film has been set into motion. Once the pre-production is done, the cast and crew start rolling. Team ‘Maya Satya Bhram’ will have a working New Year as they will be busy shaping up their upcoming film.

‘Maya Satya Bhram’, written and directed by Samik Roy Choudhury, features Priyanka Sarkar, Soham Majumder, Alexandra Tylor, and Pintu Chatterjee in the lead roles. The film also features Paran Bandopadhyay, Sreya Bhattacharyya, Sandeep Bhattacharya, Soumya Majumder, Debopriyo Mukherjee, Debesh Roy Chowdhury and Pincle Nandi. Prosenjit Koley will be serving as the director of photography of the film and Tapan Seth will take the responsibility of the art director. The music for the film will be scored by Tamal Kanti Halder, who worked with Samik on ‘Beline’ as well.

‘Maya Satya Bhram’ is expected to be released sometime around next year.



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