Shiboprosad and Nandita announce their next, Kantho

Their film, Haami, on school life is in post-production and director duo Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee are set to start their next. They chose a rather special day to announce the project, Kantho. On World Cancer Day, a day marked to raise awareness on cancer, they announced their ambitious next, a film inspired from the life and struggles of late Bibhuti Chakraborty, who was a laryngeal cancer survivor.Kantho revolves around a cancer survivor, who not only wins the battle of life but also embarks on a new journey soon after. The film that goes on the floors in March, has Jaya Ahsan playing an important part.
Sharing how he conceived the film, Shiboprosad said, “Back in 1999, I was working with a private television channel. Bibhuti Chakraborty would share his life’s journey in a segment, Aloye Phera, which was part of a non-fiction programme. The show was extremely inspiring and was a hit with the viewers. It was then that we decided to make a film on it, so thousand others could draw inspiration from his story.”
Speech therapists play an important role in laryngeal cancer patients’ life as they are the ones who help them assess and treat a wide range of speech, swallowing and communication difficulties. Speech therapist Somnath Mukherjee and ENT specialist Arjun Dasgupta have helped the directors develop the story.
“Bibhutida, after recovering from the disease, took up the task of offering speech therapy classes to patients, thus giving them a new ray of hope. He motivated hundreds to speak after a critical laryngeal surgery. The film also draws inspiration from survivors,” shared Shiboprosad. The film revolves around the life of an RJ, who’s a cancer survivor. “The asset of a radio jockey is his voice. So when a radio jockey is diagnosed with laryngeal cancer, life for him becomes tougher than ever. The film shows how he fights the atrocities of the disease and gets his voice back,” added Shiboprosad.