Raj Chakrabarty shares his experience from the sets of upcoming film Babli

Raj Chakrabarty, known for some of the biggest commercial hits in Bengali cinema such as Dui Prithibi and Challenge, has a romantic release down the pipeline. Titled Babli, the film features Subhashree Ganguly, Abir Chatterjee and Sauraseni Maitra in pivotal roles, and based on Buddhadeb Guha’s book of the same name.
Talking about the adaptation, Raj says “I read Babli when I was in school.I immediately fell in love with the idea of two opposite wandering souls, meeting each other on a journey and finally finding each other overcoming all adversity. I have always wanted to make it into a film, as it is one of my favourite novels. In 2004, I approached the late author for the rights to make it a telefilm. But he refused as he desired Babli to be made on a large scale. Again, in 2021-22 I approached him as I wanted to make a feature film on it. By then, he knew me by my work and agreed to give me the right,” said the director. He added, “After that, the search was on to find the lead actor for Babli as the actor needed to put on weight to play the role. I approached Subhashree and she agreed. She had already put on weight due to her pregnancy. And we started the shoot post her delivery. That is how we planned everything and executed it. The way she balanced the shoot and the home simultaneously is praiseworthy.”

When asked, how is it to direct Subhashree who happens to be his wife, he says “Well, on the film sets Subhashree is just like any other actor to me. Professional and personal relationships are two different things, and we don’t mix the two. But I must admit that she has done a brilliant job as an actress in this film and so has Sauraseni.”
The director feels Babli is a timeless love story which can be told again and again in any period. “We have tried to portray a neutral time zone while keeping in mind the true essence of the story and the nostalgia. What fascinates me is the complexity of the character and the inner struggle of Babli. This is not just another love story. Babli is about loving your imperfections also,” informed Raj.