Exclusive! Raj Chakraborty: If we want to grow as an industry, we have to encourage each other. Releasing films on the same date will not help

Raj Chakraborty's Dharmajuddha will hit the theatres on August 11. The film was slated to release in March 2020. However, due to the pandemic, the release got postponed a number of times. The film that features Swatilekha Sengupta, Ritwick Chakraborty, Subhashree Ganguly, Parno Mittra, Soham Chakraborty and others deals with communal disturbance.

Talking about the film, the director said, “We were all prepared to release the film in 2020. We had a promotional plan that got shelved. The pandemic upset everything. We all were disheartened. Finally, we are happy that we will be able to release the film. We are going by the plan that we shelved earlier.” The film was screened at the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival. “It was part of a tribute to Swatilekhadi. All serious people come to watch films at the festival and we saw a magical screening when everyone cheered and hooted when the dialogues were thrown on the screen. It was overwhelming for me,” he said.

Raj is optimistic about the film. “It was relevant in 2020 and it is relevant today. Communal disturbance has become a part of our lives. Not only in Bengal but the film will resonate with the national audience too,” he said.

According to reports, Raj will soon be reaching out to the national audience with his Hindi remake of Parineeta for Hotstar. Talks are reportedly on with Sai Pallavi. However, the director remained tightlipped about it. “Yes, something will happen soon. But what will happen, who will be the part of the cast will be revealed once things are finalised,” he said. As per reports, South actress Sai Pallavi will be working with the director.

Raj is known to be a South-Indian film enthusiast. Talking about the current growth of South cinema, he said, “When one film releases in the South, everyone encourages. The South has a tradition of making good films. They experiment. Maybe there is a monotony in Bollywood and that’s why there are a few unsuccessful films. It is a bad patch and Bollywood will soon overcome it. The South, meanwhile, doesn’t hesitate to experiment. They think big and work together. In Bengal, we love to work with the contents from the past. We get stuck in Feluda and Byomkesh. We need to expand our limits, experiment with content and work together. We cannot only make films for the urban audience. We will have to make films for towns and rural areas,” he said.

Interestingly, Arindam Sil’s Byomkesh Hatyamancha will be released on the same date as Dharmajuddho. Raj said, “If we want to grow as an industry, we have to encourage each other. Releasing films on the same date will not help. When Pushpa was released, everyone cheered. In Bengal, we need to change our mindset. I used to make commercial films and a lot of people criticised me for that. But I think we need to have robust commercial film scenes. We have to respect commercial films to make the industry more viable,” he said.