Sanghamitra's excited to enter Bollywood

This is a first for her. Naturally then, Sanghamitra Chaudhuri is apprehensive and excited about making her directorial debut in Bollywood. Titled ���������Strings Of Passion���������, the film deals with the story of three college students.
The director, who is the brains behind the story, says, ���������Neel, Munnu and Rahul are the best of pals in college. But the story takes off when they meet after three years of finishing college.The narrative then goes into
flashback mode.���������
Incidentally, Sanghamitra aims to deal with an important issue through this venture. ���������Not only do I want to focus on the ill-effects of bad parenting, I also want to stress on the absence of a law protecting a man against sexual harassment from other men. My three protagonists come from different backgrounds. While one has to live with separated parents, the other has to bear with ambitious and careerist parents. The third guy is brought up by a dominating single mother,��������� says the film-maker, adding, ���������This kind of an upbringing under an overtly protective mother inculcates certain feminine traits in Munnu. But he isn���������t gay or bisexual. Munnu even has a girlfriend. Sadly, he becomes the butt of ridicule amongst a group of bullies in college, who on a certain occasion, gangrape him. Hurt and depressed, Munnu commits suicide. My story starts when Neel and Rahul meet Munnu���������s mother after three years.���������
Sanghamitra had first narrated her story to Sunnyjeet Dey, who suggested that the film be made in Hindi. But that���������s not all. Her script got valuable inputs, thanks to her interaction with Mohan Das, whom she met in Mumbai. ���������He is working on a documentary dealing with gay rape. He made me aware of certain nitty-gritties related to such issues and suggested that we release both the documentary and film together in order to make a greater impact,��������� she continues.
Thankful for the help rendered, the film-maker intends to give Mohan���������s name in the credits of her film.
As for the cast, Sanghamitra has already got a consent from Zeenat Aman. ���������Things have been finalised with Zeenat ji. She is only left to sign on the dotted line. Even Raj Zutshi is part of my film apart from Subh Mukherjee (Neel) of ���������Aasma��������� and ���������Nakshatra��������� fame, Amit Sarkar (Rahul), an FTII Pune student, Girish (Munna) and Vaishali Thakkar.���������
While, Zeenat plays Munnu���������s mother, Raj has been roped in to essay Neel���������s dad. Sanghamitra will be getting someone to pen the screenplay in English and Hindi as ���������this will be an Hinglish film���������. The music will be by Mumbai-based Dev Sikdar.
Ask her if parallels might be drawn to ���������3 Idiots��������� as Rajkumar Hirani���������s film also dealt with three college friends, Sanghamitra stresses that her film is in no way similar to the former.
Considering that the recently released ���������Dunno Y... Na Jane Kyun��������� came under fire and flak for dealing with gay relationship, is she afraid of a similar fate? ���������I know that there will be problems and many hiccups. But I intend to stand my ground,��������� is Sanghamitra���������s firm answer. The unit will start shooting from December 15 in Kolkata, Taki and Mumbai.