Exclusive! Arindam Sil on Byomkesh Hatyamancha: The culture of making one film in a year has to be replaced by faster filmmaking to roll the money

Arindam Sil’s Byomkesh Hatyamancha is all set to hit the theatre on August 11. The film that features Abir Chatterjee, Sohini Sarkar, Paoli, Suhotra Mukhopadhyay, Arna Mukhopadhyay and others, is Arindam’s fourth film from the franchise. Arindam's first franchisee, Har Har Byomkesh, was released in 2015. After that Byomkesh Porbo was released in 2016 and Byomkesh Gotro in 2018. The new film Byomkesh Hatyamancha will be released after four years.

Arindam expressed his surprise over the craze of Byomkesh among the audience. “Despite repeated productions – on the big screens and OTT – Byomkesh Bakshi’s charm remains eternal,” said the director. “I realised this while making this film. The audience loves Byomkesh Bakshi. What Sherlock Holmes is to the British audience, Byomkesh is for Indians. Unlike Feluda, Byomkesh’s television series is popular all over India,” he added. Elaborating on his style of making Byomkesh, he said, “Whenever I make Byomkesh, a certain section of people claim that it's an easy job. Also, people criticise for making Byomkesh repeatedly. Meanwhile, the reality is that Byomkesh shows remain housefull every time I make one. Also, I treat Byomkesh differently. I see it as a period piece. Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s literary work is not just a whodunit. It represents political conflicts, social and cultural changes and so on. And I try to capture that.”

Byomkesh Hatyamancha is set in Kolkata. “The other three films are somewhat like a travelogue. In this film, we wanted to capture the Kolkata of that period. It is set against the backdrop of the 1970s Naxalbari Movement. Bengali commercial theatre was at its peak. And it is also the time when decadence started creeping in. The black hole of mediocrity that we live in right now started during that time. My film captures all these things,” said the director.

The shooting of Byomkesh Hatyamancha started on June 1. On August 5, the final cut film was sent for printing. “It was a challenge for me. I completed it in just two months. Producer Srikant Mohta asked me if I could make a film at this time since there was a window. I accepted the challenge. Within two months, we have done the shooting, VFX, music, dubbing and editing. On August 5, we sent the final film for printing after the final mixing. The culture of making one film in a year has to be replaced by faster filmmaking to roll the money. The more films we will make the more money will be rolled out. It will be helpful for the industry as a whole,” he said.

On August 11, Raj Chakraborty’s Dharmajuddho will also be released. Will it be a competition for the film? “I have no competition with Raj. Our producer SVF has announced the film in January this year. Byomkesh was scheduled to be released on August 11 forever. After that we worked really hard to make the film. Raj’s Dharmajuddho is completely different from Byomkesh. There should not be any conflict,” he said.