Har Har Byomkesh: Straight from Benaras shoot

Varanasi. The meeting place of the two rivers, Varuna and Asi. The land that boasts of scenic ghats, mandirs, and a seamless coexistence of Mughal architecture and Hindu spirituality . One of the seven holy cities of India, Varanasi, is also the backdrop for Shree Venkatesh Films' first foray into the Byomkesh franchise, Har Har Byomkesh, being directed by Arindam Sil.

But why Varanasi? Why not Patna, as the book by Saradindu Bandopadhyay , Bahni Patanga, had mentioned?Between taking shots, Arindam explains, “In the book, Patna is just another city . It adds nothing to the story.In my take, Varanasi is not just a city but a character. The ghats, the grandiose architecture, Kashi Vishwanath temple -they add a layer of spiritualism to the film. The title, Har Har Byomkesh is linked to Lord Mahadev's myth."
In Picture: Nusrat Jahan shoots as Shakuntala in the historic Ramnagar Fort

While the essence of Bahni Patanga remains, Arindam's treatment has much more. Sohini Sarkar's Satyabati is not a voice in the background, but Byomkesh's comrade, lover and newlywedded wife. Similarly , Chandni, played by Rachel White, is not just another side character, but an intriguing woman who confuses Byomkesh as much as she entices the audience. Bickram Ghosh's score sees extensive use of Indian classical elements, and also features one song, which is a throwback to Joy Baba Felunath's music. Obviously , there's much to look forward to.

Scene: Satyabati is overjoyed that Byomkesh’s stories, penned by Ajit have become so popular that they are being translated in Hindi. Byomkesh, though, couldn’t care less. Or so he pretends.

In this scene, Byomkesh is seen waking Ajit up and briskly walking back to the drawing room. The brief was, as he hurries back, his feet will kick a chappal out of its place to show the intensity of his scene. In reality, he kicks the chappal so hard, it flies right back at the camera and Arindam Sil goes, “Tui to Manchester United re. Seshe aamakei juto marchish?”

Arindam Sil on Rachel White being concerned about her left profile, which she deems is not as good as her right: “Rachel, do you know you are working with the best DoP (Soumik Halder) of the country? You need not worry about your profiles."

In one of the scenes, Arindam Sil asks Abir to say `namaste' to Chandni's character (played by Rachel).Abir is not convinced that Byomkesh would say namaste in that situation. He expresses his concern and proposes to do something else. Arindam Sil says, “Ja korbi kor. Tor-e to chhobi.Aamar aar ki? (Do what you think is right. It's your film after all, how does it matter to me!)" and the entire unit bursts into laughter.

For this dream sequence, Chandni is given a glam makeover. Even the security personnel took time off their duty to catch a glimpse of the temptress. Arindam Sil to Rachel, describing the character: “This woman is a true Gemini. She has four different characters hidden inside her. So, walk like a leopard!"

What you won't see on screen:
1. Arindam Sil is one forgetful director. He supposedly has been calling Harsh Chhaya by Rajesh Sharma's name from the beginning of the shoot. Harsh has since decided to rechristen himself Rajesh Sharma 2.
(In Picture: Harsh Chhaya in his Inspector Purandar Pandey getup, complete with an imposing Moustache, khaki and a choti (tiki) at the back of his head.)
2. After each scene is okayed, which takes anywhere between 2 hours to an entire day, the unit screams `Har Har Byomkesh'.
3. Rachel makes sure she goes to the monitor to see exactly how the shot looks, after every single one.

What you won't see on screen
4. The better the shot, the louder Arindam Sil shouts ‘Cut’.
5. Rachel makes sure she goes to the monitor to see exactly how the shot looks, after every single one.
6. Arindam Sil acts each character’s bit to each actor before every scene.
The way Abir Chatterjee, the fun and quirky man, changes into the suave and intellectual Byomkesh as soon as the camera starts rolling can only be justified as a magician’s sleight of hand.
(In Picture: Nusrat and Abir take a bnreak in between shots, while sipping on tea in Ramnagar Fort.)

In one of the scenes, as Byomkesh walks away, Chandni is supposed to go all femme fatale on him with, “Suniye, mera naam Chandni hai. Fir milenge." Arindam Sil enacts Chandni's bit with such conviction, Abir turns right around and runs towards him with a mock, “Aise bulayenge to hum bhaag ke kahan jayenge?" Thank God the cameras weren't rolling.

At the end of second day’s shoot at Nandeshwar Ghat, Sohini Sarkar arrived at the hotel at 11 pm, carrying a fat Himu omnibus (by Humayun Ahmed), dead tired. “I thought I would get loads of time on the sets today, so I took the book along. I did not get time to turn a single page, thanks to Arindam da and his OCD-ish obsession with the perfect scene,” she mock-rued

Chandni’s character is a paan connoisseur, and tonnes of paan had to be bought at regular interval to keep the supply going for Rachel. “I have been chewing so many of them since morning, my jaws are aching,” Rachel said between shots.

“This is a majestic character. She is the picture of poise and grace. Bringing alive Shakuntala’s character is definitely a challenge, but I am loving it, since, before this, I have mostly done eye-candy roles,” said Nusrat Jahan, who had to climb up a makeshift ladder to reach the jhul baranda of Ramnagar Fort for a particular scene.

In Ramnagar Fort, Soumik Halder took 35 shots in total for three scenes. “Depending on the length of the scene, the number of shots increases, but I try not to compromise till I get the perfect shot.” In fact, while on sets, if Soumik suggests a change in a scene or a shot, which is very rare, the director okays it even before the words are out of his mouth, such is the respect he commands.