Resul Pookutty to visit Kolkata

It’s the belief in authentic cinema that’s bringing Shonali Bose and hubby Bedabrata Pain to Kolkata.
Brought up in the city, the duo is hell-bent on not replicating the story of the Chittagong arms haul anywhere else apart from this state.
Shonali, who had directed Amu, while hubby Bedabrata produced the film, is all set to do a role reversal with this film. “But both of us are whole-heartedly involved in every project of ours,” said Shonali.The film will be from the point of view of a young revolutionary, who got involved in Surya Sen’s armed resistance movement early in life.
“I had interviewed Subodh Roy on camera, the youngest revolutionary in the Chittagong movement. The story of the 15-year-old boy, who stole his father’s licensed gun and headed off to join the armed uprising under the leadership of Masterda to overthrow British rule, really touched me,” Shonali added. The story was conceived five years back and Bedabrata has already done a recce of the places he wants to shoot in. An avid reader, the film-maker had read up on a lot of Bengali literature before zeroing in on the story of the Chittagong movement, which is close to his heart. Though both Shonali and Bedabrata are tightlipped on the cast of the film, tentatively titled Chittagong: Strike One, on December 20, the team is again coming down for a tech recce. And this time around, they’ll be visiting Alipore and Presidency Jails while in the city, before flying off to North Bengal on December 21. Accompanying them would be sound wizard Resul Pookutty, who’s on board already.
“I’m super-excited to be in Kolkata. It must be after seven years that I’m coming to the city. I used to hang out at The Park and eat at a Park Street joint. A big fan of Usha Uthup’s music, I had quite a few heart-to-heart conversations with the singer. She told me how she started out from singing at this Park Street eatery,” said Resul enthusiastically. About his influences in life, the Oscar winner added, “Ritwik Ghatak has had a tremendous influence on my life and work. I’ve also watched a lot of Satyajit Ray’s films and read Mahasweta Devi’s works. Jyoti Basu too is a huge name to reckon with. I’m truly nostalgic,” he signed off, adding that on his visit, he’ll try to make it to all the places he would once frequent.