When 10 apparent strangers are invited to an estranged guest house, a caretaker receives them instead of the host, who leaves a message accusing each one of the guests of being a murderer. The message ends with an ominous note demanding death penalty for their crimes.
The latest feature film from Impress Telefilm, “Kaaler Putul,” which premieres on March 30, opens with this promising hook.
The film stars an ensemble cast with A-list actors like Ferdous Ahmed and Raisul Islam Asad. Inspired by Agatha Christie’s 1939 mystery novel “And Then There Were None,” the film features Ashish Khandakar, Bithi Rani Sarkar, Jannatun Noor Moon, Arif Orko, Shahed Ali, Lutfar Rahman George and Reetu Sattar in other central roles.
Why did you choose this story?
Ghalib: There were many reasons. The main reason was that I knew I had to choose a story that can be made within a small budget. For that, I wanted to choose a story that would have limited locations. I think thrillers can be made in an interesting way with only a few locations. I know what type of films I love to watch. I love thriller films. From that perspective, I wanted to choose a thriller film that is experimental and requires a single location. As a filmmaker, I want to overcome the challenges. When I make a film, I keep in mind that my first can also be my last, because whether I’ll be able to make another film is not guaranteed. So, I wanted to make it as if it’s the only movie I’ll ever make.Bithi: It’s a fun story.Moon: Like Reza Ghalib said, all the characters are dynamic. The story is fun.Ghalib: After finishing the script, we had to cast, which is an important decision for a director. I had a preconceived idea about which actors would fit a certain role. I only wanted to send the script to the persons I wanted to cast. I didn’t know whether they’d say yes or not. I kept the end of the story a secret to whoever I sent the script to. No one knew the ending before we shot the final scenes. In case someone didn’t agree to act in my film, I didn’t want them to know the whole story.You worked with different actors from different backgrounds- film, TV and theatre. Was it hard to make everyone’s acting styles fit a uniform tone?
Ghalib: It was my intention to cast all types of actors in this film. It’s an Impress Telefilm production, so Moon and Arif were automatically selected as they are the winners of two reality shows of Impress. They were excellent for the roles.Was it a pre-requisite to cast the winners in your film?
Ghalib: No. It was my decision. I wanted to cast new actors so the audience won’t have a preconceived idea about the actors. People have preconceived ideas about established actors like Ferdous. I wanted to break that mould. There was a hard core theatre actor, Ashish Khandakar. Goerge and Mithu work mostly in TV dramas. Reetu Sattar is also a hard core theatre actor. From film background, I chose Ferdous and Raisul Asad. I paid particular attention to Arif and Moon, as they are newcomers. For actors like Ashish Khandakar, I didn’t have to instruct anything.But surely you had some ground rules.
Ghalib: The first rule was that you have to memorise the script. There was no scope for improvisation. As you’ve seen the film, you might’ve noticed there were some long takes. So those had to be well rehearsed. The actors were very cooperative… I’m really impressed with the dedication of all my actors. Like Arif came to the set even if he didn’t have a scene to shoot.We’ve seen Ashish Khandakar a lot on TV recently. Did you have to change anything to work on a film?
Ashish: The academic difference is there in the presentation of every medium. The essence of the art is the most important thing. Film represents life. I don’t believe there’s a conceptual difference for playing a hero or a small character when I act. What’s important to me is how the characters sync with the whole context. How important is the character in a scene? I don’t believe in the duration of screen time for a character. It doesn’t create a difference to me… Acting in theatre is an advantage for me when I work in other mediums. The vocabulary of film and theatre is different. I don’t judge an actor based on their experience. They’re all my colleagues.Moon, it’s your first film. How did you feel working with these veteran actors?
Moon: Like Ashish Khandakar said, no matter how senior they are, they never let me feel inadequate. They were all very helpful. Shahed Ali, who played the character of my boyfriend, the director, the assistant directors- they all helped me out a lot.How about you, Arif?
Arif: “Kaler Putul” is my first film. I was very excited about this film. After Reza Ghalib told me the story, without the ending of course, I thought this is the first time something like this is being made (in Bangladesh). I liked the story. Reza Ghalib helped me a lot. He is a good person. The whole team helped me. The biggest exciting thing for me was to work with these great artists, like Ferdous, for the first time. Before this, I worked in telefilms and dramas. Working with so many artists on my first film was a great feeling.Reza Ghalib, this is your feature film debut. What else did you direct before?
Ghalib: I haven’t worked much in fiction. All my audio visual work is for TV. I started my career with news. I wanted to make films, not TV fictions. “Khela Khela Sharabela” was a TV fiction I made in 2010 or 2011, which I liked. It was an experimental work to see if I can make a fiction work. It was written by Shibobroto Bormon. The cast included Sayed Babu. It was nominated for Meril Prothom Alo Award.Why do you shy away from fiction?
I feel like to properly make a fiction, I need a budget and creative freedom, which I won’t get. There are too many limitations in TV, not just the budget.What aspects of your characters appealed to you the most?
Ashish: My character is an abstract one. He is a wood merchant. He is not either a protagonist or an antagonist. He acts on his animal instincts. He doesn’t judge or analyse. He represents marginalized people, who can disrupt the system from the grassroots level. I instantly connected with the script. It’s the essence of Agatha Christie, not a word-to-word adaptation.Bithi: I play the character of a nurse. She comes to the bungalow for she did something in her past. The character is designed in a way that the audience won’t know why she’s there for most parts. They can relate to my character after half of the movie is over. After you watch the whole film, you’ll know her significance.Moon: My character was a drug addict who killed her parents. Only murderers were invited to this place. She came with her boyfriend, Bobby. My character was highlighted because I had many glamourous shots. Reza Ghalib asked me to watch some films to prepare for this character; like Kangana Ranaut in “Fashion.”I thought Bobby was a very abusive boyfriend.
Bithi: Bobby was very possessive and most importantly, he was my ex-boyfriend.Arif: In the movie.Ghalib: You should make that clear (laughs).Why didn’t your character protest to the abuse (to Moon)?
Bithi: Her character didn’t have the pulse to protest.Moon: I played an obedient girlfriend.Ghalib: My explanation is that she was living in an unreal world for her addiction and mood swings.Bithi: She doesn’t feel anything easily.Did you have any hardship shooting on a mountain in Bandarban?
Ghalib: The first lot was shot in September. It rained cats and dogs then.Bithi: In the evenings especially.Ghalib: We built that wooden bungalow on location. When we couldn’t find a house that matched our storyboarding, we decided to build the set. Our budget was really low. So, we made one room and then reassembled the walls to make another. It was all planned out.Arif: It looks like a real guest house. No one can tell the difference.Ghalib: Only the lounge area was there. We built the rest… Even in a storm, the actors would remain nonchalant. It was hard to edit with the guide tracks. I couldn’t understand the dialogues in the editing panel (with all the background noise of the storm). The editors were irritated. I had to look at the script to figure out the dialogue.Were there snakes and bugs?
Bithi: Not really. We had trouble climbing down the mountain. It was so muddy, Moon stumbled one time.Ghalib: We couldn’t complete shooting on time. We wanted to shoot the whole film in one lot.Did you have to increase the number of shooting days or cut some scenes?
Ghalib: We had to finish all the shots we had on that set in the first lot. We shot the rest in another lot later. We built an elabotare wood and rope bridge connecting two mountains. When we came back to shoot, the bridge wasn’t there. Rats probably cut the rope or something.Bithi: Arif went on the bridge first. It was really high.Arif: I’ve walked on hanging bridges before. Bithi and Moon and all the girls were really afraid.
https://youtu.be/QdEMqdVgmnY
