‘Debotaar Grash’ reflects my views on communalism, intolerance and religious chaos: Director Saibal Mitra

Two powerhouse performers, who have kept generations hooked to big screen, will soon be seen sharing the screen together. This is the first time thespian Soumitra Chatterjee and Bollywood icon Naseeruddin Shah are coming together for Saibal Mitra’s ‘Debotaar Grash’ (A Holy Conspiracy), an adaptation of the novel ‘Inherit the Wind’ by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee. The film which also stars Biplab Dasgupta, Amrita Chattopadhyay and Kaushik Sen in pivotal roles has recently been selected for screening at the prestigious Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart 2020 that starts from July 15.
The director, in an exclusive chat with ETimes, says the script reflects his views on communalism, intolerance and the religious chaos in today’s society: “After reading the play, I had also seen the 1960 Hollywood film by the same name, directed by Stanley Kremmer and started working on the script. I wanted to cast Naseeruddin from the very beginning and got in touch with him via WhatsApp. Contemporising this complex play in the Indian context was a huge challenge. Finally, I managed to decide on the right cast.”
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The story is set against the backdrop of Hillolganj, a township, where most of the inhabitants are from the adivasi community and are Christians by religion. There, Kunal Joseph, a science professor, doesn’t want to teach The Genesis of the Bible ahead of science. But it’s an unwritten rule at the college to teach The Genesis which Kunal refuses because Bible is beyond his jurisdiction. The management suspends Kunal eventually. Following this, communal tension starts in the area since Kunal is a Hindu and is jailed for offending the Christians.
Once Kunal’s misery grabs headlines, all attention turns to Hillolganj. Kunal’s trial begins in Hillolganj court and two noted lawyers — Reverend Basant Kumar Chatterjee and Anthon D’Souza — contest in favour and against him. “While Soumitrada plays Basant Kumar, Naseeruddin Shah will be seen as Anthon. They are the backbone of the film, Plus, Kaushik Sen plays a Delhi-based Journalist. It’s a trilingual film where the characters will speak Bengali, Hindi, English, apart from Adivasi languages,” added director Saibal Mitra.
Naseeruddin first appeared in the Bengali film ‘Protidan’ by Prabhat Roy and his last was Judhajit Sarkar’s ‘Khasi Katha — A Goat Saga’.