Nirmal Chakravarty: Datta represents a nice mainstream film that upholds our cultural values

Nirmal Chakravarty is all set to foray into filmmaking with Datta. Based on Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s legendary tale, his film features Rituparna Sengupta, Joy Sengupta, Shaheb Chattopadhyay, and others. On Monday, the trailer of the film was dropped in the presence of the cast, crew, and other dignitaries. 

While talking to OTTplay, Nirmal said, “I wanted to work on a literature piece. It has been a while since no film was made based on Tagore, Saratchandra, or Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s work. I thought that a literary work will give me a mileage in terms of developing the scripts and characters. In such novels, all the characters are well developed and that helps to adapt them on the screen.”

Nirmal further added that he believes Datta is still relevant in our society. “The protagonist is a woman who is sharp, intelligent, smart, beautiful, generous, and yet has the potential to be ruthless. She is graceful and her heart is filled with love. I felt Rituparna has all these traits. I believe if my film can capture the essence of Datta, people will love it. Simplicity is the forte of the film. There are no complexities. There are four songs – three Tagore’s and one Rajanikanto Sen. Datta represents the genre of a nice mainstream film that upholds our cultural values,” he said. 

Nirmal has been associated with Rituparna as her manager for years. Talking about Rituparna, he said, “Directing her was simple. Just before the shot, I used to explain to her the scene before and what’s going to happen after so that she could prepare accordingly. She does not need any direction in terms of acting. She knows how to go about her characters,” said the director.