‘Shah Jahan Regency’: Why Srijit Mukherji’s latest offering is a must watch

Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Shah Jahan Regency’ has decked the headlines ever since it was announced, especially after the trailer and first two songs were released. Based on Shankar’s iconic novel ‘Chowringhee’, it’s releasing today, on January 18. With a stellar cast including Parambrata Chatterjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Rituparna Sengupta, Abir Chatterjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Mamata Shankar and Anjan Dutt among others, Srijit brings another nostalgic ride down the memory lane. Before you watch the film in theatres, here’s a low down on why ‘Shah Jahan Regency’ is a must watch this weekend.

Rudra Mukherjee who is a simple, sweet and honest guy finds an appropriate friend, philosopher and guide in his senior Samiran Bose aka Sam. We would get to see Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Shah Jahan Regency’ through Parambrata aka Rudra’s observing eyes. But did you know Param was supposed to play another character? “Initially Srijit offered me the role Anirban is playing. The character is really important and crucial to the narrative and Anirban has done a great job playing the Premik Purush. But I wasn’t sure about playing this character. So I told Srijit it’s not appealing me. That’s how the entire reshuffle of the casting happened and I end up playing Rudra who is being introduced to the hotel world by Samiran Bose,” said Parambrata who is reuniting with Srijit Mukherji after the 2016 crime drama ‘Zulfiqar’.

It seems Anjan Dutta has become a constant in Srijit Mukherji’s films in recent years including two of the biggest hits of 2018 - ‘Uma’ and ‘Ek Je Chhilo Raja’. In this film the actor-director reprises the famous character essayed by the legendary Utpal Dutt in Pinaki Mukherji’s ‘Chowringhee’ (1968). Speaking about Uttam Kumar’s portrayal of another iconic literary character Sata Bose in the 1968 film, Dutt pointed out what was missing in that film, “The film molded the actual story into a one character affair. With all respect to mahanayak he (Uttam Kumar) was, I believe ‘Chowringhee’ is mainly a story of several characters infesting the hotel. The hotel is like a world and all of the characters in it share equal importance.”

Given its ensemble cast including Parambrata Chatterjee, Anjan Dutt, Abir Chatterjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Mamata Shankar, Kanchan Mullick, Rituparna Sengupta, experts have already termed the film box office hit. ‘Chowringhee’ was immoratalised by the Bengali cult classic of the same name starring Uttam Kumar, Supriya Devi and Subhendu Chatterjee in 1968. So, it’s obviously a risky decision to make a film on the same novel once again. But Srijit has already assured his film will not be a rip off from the original novel. Swastika Mukherjee who is playing one of the leads in Srijit’s film also echoes the same. “It’s better not to compare ‘Shah Jahan Regency’ with ‘Chowringhee’ as it’s different and mainly adheres to Shankar’s famous book. Perhaps a few years later, someone will again plan to adapt Shankar’s novel into a film and may be that will be different from the one Srijit has made. So comparisons shouldn’t be done,” said the actress.

Anirban Bhattacharya’s first playback is no doubt the biggest surprise we received in 2018. His rendition of ‘Kichhu Chaini Aami’ from Srijit’s upcoming has become a huge hit. So, how it all happened? How Srijit Mukherji discovered the hidden talent in the versatile actor? Indraadip Das Gupta, who has composed the music for ‘Shah Jahan Regency’, reveals he once heard Anirban singing a Kabir Suman song inside the smoking zone of a hotel in USA. “Anirban was singing one of Kabir Suman’s songs then and he has a romantic role in ‘Shah Jahan Regency’. This song needed both romanticism and melancholy. We all know he is a brilliant actor. For ‘Kichhu Chaini Aami’ we needed not only a good singer but also a great orator. So I spoke to Srijit, why not use Anirban’s voice in this song? And Anirban has done a superb job,” said Indraadip.

Swastika Mukherji is playing one of the lead, a hostess Karabi Guha. But did you know Jaya Ahsan was supposed to play the role? Speculation was rife that Jaya backed out due a reported tiff with the director. However, later it was revealed the Bangladeshi actress had some issues with the intimate scenes involving her character in ‘Shah Jahan Regency’. However, Srijit says: “It’s nothing like that. When I was reworking on the script, I found out Swastika will fit the role more than Jaya. See, the characters always build their own destiny and I thought this role won’t do justice to Jaya’s acting credentials and also it will hamper my honesty as a story teller if we have to compromise while casting. So, there are no controversies.”

We all have seen before, Srijit’s film uses music as a bridge between the viewers and the characters in his cinematic canvas. ‘Shah Jahan Regency’ is no exception as well. There are four songs in the film and two composers have worked together – two from Anupam Roy and another two from extremely talented Prosen. All these four songs play a key role in the amalgamation of four love stories. Each story has one dedicated song. This is the first time Prosen has composed music in Srijit’s film. His ‘Kicchu Chaini Aami’ has two versions. While the male version has Anirban Bhattacharya’s voice Madhumonti has sung the female version. Prosen’s second song ‘Bolo Na Radhika’ sees Monali Thakur’s sweet rendition. Meanwhile, Anupam Roy’s two songs are ‘Ghure Takao’ and ‘Randhre Randhre Paap’. The second one was originally from Anupam’s first music album. In ‘Ghure Takao’ there’s a unique pop sound which we haven’t seen in Bengali cinema usually.

Srijit had cast Prosenjit Chatterjee as Samy aka Samiran Bose at first. However, Prosenjit backed out as he thought he will look more aged than the character Srijit offered. “Earlier I had planned the character Samiran Bose from a different angle but then if an actor is too conscious about his age factor while portraying the character the discomfort will reflect on screen. I didn’t want this. An actor has to surrender entirely to the character. If this doesn’t take place spontaneously it’s unfair for both the character and the actor,” explained Srijit Mukherji during a recent media interaction.