‘The Lightning in the Climax was Real’
Directors Abhishek and Meenakshii are ready with their debut film Kuasha Jakhon. Ahead of its release, the duo speaks to RBN about why they made a film on paranormal romance, and how nature helped them in one of the scenes.
You are branding Kuasha Jakhon as a paranormal romance. How did you combine the two elements? Like, we don’t usually associate romance with paranormal activities.
Romance is not only about love. It‘s more about your passion in life. It can be books, a cup of coffee or anything that a person may like to do. Physical romance between two individuals is usually incomplete. That’s one of the reasons why none seems to be happy and content these days. When we talk of paranormal love, it’s our connection to the spiritual world that makes us complete.
How did you get the subject of the film?
Meenakshii: I am a doctorate in occult and parapsychology and keep coming across several things that can’t be explained. The story of the film dawned upon me all of a sudden and Abhishek added all the necessary twists to it to make the narrative interesting and suitable for the big screen.
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How did you select the cast for your film? Like, how did you determine who would be the best fit for each role?
Well, all we can say is that it just happened and everything fell into place. And luckily all the actors who were selected matched the respective characters they played, making it look real.
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The film has travelled to a few festivals and people have watched it. How has been the reception so far?
It feels good that people are appreciating our work. We have put in our honest effort into the making of the film. When people appreciate, our job is done. That’s also our biggest reward.
We hear the trailer got a review from a Pakistani viewer. That’s something very unusual since they don’t know the Bengali language.
It came as a big surprise for us. But we are both elated about it and feel it’s the inner spiritual bonding that we have with this universe that’s making the buzz all over.
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Coming to the music, what made you zero in on Chirantan?
His belief in himself. Chirantan had the confidence in him that he can do justice to both the eras shown in the film, right from 1950s to present-day.
Recently web has emerged as a new platform for watching films. Do you think it will impact the way films are made and distributed in the future?
We all watch films online these days because of the lack of time and energy to visit a theatre. But the audience should encourage new filmmakers and see what they can offer. The new generation is a powerhouse of talent with wonderful story ideas and they should be given an opportunity to prove their merit. The audience should always watch a film at the theatres since that will promote new talent and help them grow.
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You have retained a natural feel to the film
Yes, of course. In fact many things just happened for the good without any prior planning. Like in the climax scene, we needed storm thunder and lightning. It all happened on its own. We didn’t use any VFX to forge the look of the scene. It was real thunder and lightning. When the audience sees the film, they will understand that in a world which is so synthetic, we have tried to keep Kuasha Jakhon as natural as possible.
