Prosenjit and Konkona: Back together after Dosor

They played a married couple torn apart by infidelity in Rituparno Ghosh’s Dosor. They are coming together again, but to play father and daughter in Anjan Dutt’s Amar Kanchan. The film will also star Atul Kulkarni. Konkona will play the title role of Kanchan, an environment activist, in this Bengali film with a smattering of Hindi dialogues.

“The film is about an estranged father-daughter relationship, where Prosenjit plays the middle-aged father and Konkona his 20-something daughter. There have been lots of films on the mother-daughter relationship but there has been nothing on the father-daughter relationship. This relationship can be as dramatic, adorable and complex. There is a lot of love and hatred between them (Prosenjit and Konkona),” says Dutt (picture right), riding the back-to-back successes of The Bong Connection and Bow Barracks Forever.

“I wanted to work with Konkona in this film and she has agreed to do it. Konkona is very talented and ideal for this role. But her dates have to be adjusted as Rinadi (Aparna Sen) is planning to start Goynar Baksho around the same time,” adds Dutt, who plans to start shooting next February in Lava and Lolegaon.

A major portion of the straight schedule is with Prosenjit. “Prosenjit’s look in the film is very important. He will be both young and old, so there will be different make-ups…. I wanted to cast a star in this role as it is a little larger than life and also very complex. Also because Prosenjit is a very good actor. I liked him in Dosor and Chokher Bali,” says Dutt.

“It’s the role of a lifetime.… I am very inspired to do the film. It’s something I have never done before,” says Prosenjit.

The third important character in the film is Kanchenjunga, where much of the story unfolds. Set in north Bengal and partly in Calcutta, Amar Kanchan has the threat to greenery and ecological imbalance as its backdrop. “There’s a lot of environmental decay happening in north Bengal and all this is part of the film,” says the director.

The rest of the cast is yet to be finalised, but Dutt is sure to sign a few Nepalese actors. Son Neel will score the background music, which will be a mix of Bengali and Nepali romantic folk.

Kushali Nag

(Which did you like more, The Bong Connection or Bow Barracks Forever? Tell t2@abpmail.com)