Interview: Aditya Vikram Sengupta reveals why Mayanagar took so long to release, if there is a Satyajit Ray connect

Director Aditya Vikram Sengupta opened up about the making of Mayanagar and why he is not worried, rather excited, about the film's release.

Aditya Vikram Sengupta burst into the scene with Asha Jawar Majhe (Labour of Love) a decade ago. The near-wordless film, released in 2014, won him the National Film Award for Best Debut Film of a Director and a bunch of awards at international festivals. He followed that up with Jonaki in 2018, and then came Once Upon A Time in Calcutta, which is titled Mayanagar in Bengali. Ahead of the release of the film, which stars Sreelekha Mitra and Bratya Basu, the director caught up for an exclusive chat with HT on the film's delayed release, the connection with the city in his films and more. (Also read: Sabar Bonda review: First-ever Marathi film at Sundance is a tender, deeply moving study of queer love in rural India)

Aditya Vikram Sengupta on the set of Mayanagar.

On the film's release

Mayanagar premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021. What kept the film so long before a theatrical release in India? The director says, “The reasons are not very eventful. 2020 and 2021 was all about Covid. In September 2021, it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and then it was set to release in 2022. Then the counterpart in India which was supposed to take care of the distribution of the film dissolved… It then took a while to get operational rights back to us and then get the film released.”

The director adds that he is not worried about the response, adding: “In fact, it is the most exciting part of the film's journey. It is a film for the people and it comes from a place which is very deep-rooted in the city, belonging to its people. It contains different worlds within, so from that point of view, I am very excited to see the people of this place getting to see the film.”

The first seed for the film arrived when Aditya saw this dinosaur statue outside Kolkata's Science City, which was fast being overshadowed by the construction of a new flyover. It then grew to become a film about the city caught somewhere in the intersection between the past and the present.

Aditya says, “There is no pre-conceived hope or expectation as such. But what I do know is that everyone is going to feel very connected to this film, no matter what age group it is or where they belong to. It is a sincere story with rooted and endearing characters from our daily lives. The performances are extraordinary, and I don't think Bengali cinema has seen actors perform to this level of perfection!”

Sreelekha Mitra in a still from Mayanagar.

Is there a connect with Satyajit Ray's Mahanagar?

The Bengali title of the film, Mayanagar, has quite a similar parallel to Mahanagar, the much revered Satyajit Ray film, which released in 1963. Moreover, both films are also about the city of Calcutta and its inhabitants. “It is one of my favourite Satyajit Ray films… I simply love that film. But of course, the similarity in the title and the sound of it are undeniable.”

From Asha Jawar Majhe to Jonaki and now Mayanagar, all of his films tell stories about cities and people who are inhabiting the city space in some way. What about these characters interests him the most as a filmmaker? Aditya adds, “Even as a kid, I was very connected with my surroundings. There has been no restrictions in going out, and I had so many friends from so many places. Even later on, travelling, I have gone to so many places and met so many people. I used to learn Western Classical Music- piano, and was also part of a band. I thought it was all okay, and I did not want to box myself in one way. That has somehow made me connect to different kinds of people, and this feeling of inherent empathy for everyone's lives. This has also reflected in my films, which is how I look at my stories now.”

Mayanagar releases in theatres on February 7.