Reality bites Sector V

It’s a kitty of four films that Riingo wants to shoot back-to-back from April post the release of Jodi Ekdin. And all of these ideas, claims Riingo, are original!
One of the most original of the projects is titled Reality. It’s told from a director’s perspective of what happens in a reality show that he has judged! But no, it isn’t a personal film, insists Riingo.“My film will expose the hidden side of a reality show. I might have a character like me in the film. But I have no intentions of acting in it,” Riingo says. And will he want to cast Shinjini, the reality show contestant whose travails on a dance reality show ensured that both Riingo and she made national
headlines? “I might cast her though I haven’t spoken to her about this. She has done a film and I’m happy if she is doing well for herself.” And how critical will Riingo be about the director’s position in the context of the film? After all, judges too could be involved in scripting the drama in a reality show! “I want to make a hard-hitting film. I will not be judgemental and it’s not for me to decide who is guilty. I will leave it to the audience to decide who the fallen guy is when a crisis happens. The moot point will be whether all that’s happening in the name of reality shows is about talent search or the lack of it.”
Another interesting project is the one titled Sector V. Based on the life of people in Kolkata’s techno hub, this film will present a slice of their life. “This is the first time that a Tollywood film is being made on Sector V. Having interacted with people, I have understood that this zone makes people behave differently. The film will be shot in Sector V too. I have five characters in this film. There is a separated couple, a guy suffering from Alzheimer’s, another guy from Kalyani and a teastall owner. Shooting for this film should begin in May-June.”
But before that happens, Riingo will be off to Mandarmani to shoot Cottage. A thriller, the film revolves around friends who get stalked while on a holiday. The suspense lies in the fact that one of the them is supposed to be a killer. The cast for this film includes, Rimjhim, Abir, Sagnik, Shamun Ahmed, Sourabh, Ritam and Ritwika. Tell Riingo that the cast and the Mandarmani connect makes Cottage very similar to Cross Connection and he says, “Yes, there is a similarity with CC. But mine is a thriller.”
If Cottage is a thriller, Station is Riingo’s attempt to adapt the found footage genre in Tollywood. An ambitious venture, Station will be somewhat on the lines of a Bengali version of The Blair Witch Project or even, Paranormal Activity. “Found footage is a genre of horror film-making in which all or a substantial part of a film is presented as an edit of recovered footage, often left behind by missing or dead protagonists. My film is about how five friends hack into an e-mail account and find a mobile phone clipping that was filmed eight years back at the Rabindra Sadan station. Those who feature in the clip had disappeared without a trace. These five friends want to unearth what had actually happened.”
While Station will have all newcomers, Riingo wants to cast Indraneil Sengupta, his JE actor, in Sector V. “Indraneil is a today’s actor. He is disciplined and hard-working and can adapt to any kind of roles that’s given to him. He has done a good job as an advertising guy in JE. If everything shapes up well, I might cast both Indraneil and his wife, Barkha, in Sector V.”
Four films on four different subjects. Seems like Riingo is planning to rain films in Tollywood this year!