Soumitra Chatterjee, Mamata Shankar unite in Jiit Chakraborty’s Sesher Galpo

Do you know how old Amit Ray, a barrister educated at Oxford, and Labanya of Shesher Kabita would be today? Or how would they react if they cross each other’s path again? In all these years, did they share any poem with each other? Those who have returned to Rabindranath Tagore’s landmark novel Shesher Kabita time and again might have wondered about it quite frequently.

Now director Jiit Chakraborty has managed a casting coup of sorts by roping in Soumitra Chatterjee and Mamata Shankar as Amit and Labanya. The director has already completed the first leg of the shooting of the film. Currently, the cast and crew are shooting for the film, titled, Sesher Galpo, in Baruipur. “At the end of Shesher Kobita, we know Amit and Labanya have parted ways. My film starts when they meet after years. Today, Amit has grown old and runs an old-age home. Accidentally, he meets Labanya here,” says Jiit.

Interestingly, Shesher Kabita is the first ever novel Jiit has read in his life and the story has remained with him since then. When his scriptwriter and he were jostling for ideas, the concept of Sesher Galpo struck him. “Mamata Shankar was elated when I approached her for the film. Soumitra Sir was initially hesitant but then he went through the entire script. He kept asking me why I approached him to play Amit Ray. But is there anyone in Bengali cinema who can play Amit but Soumitra Sir?” asks Jiit, who has acted in serials like Subarnalata and others. Joy Sarkar is composing the music of the film. In 2015, Suman Mukhopadhyay had made a film on the novel. The film of the same name had Rahul Bose playing Amit Ray and Konkona Sen Sharma as Labanya.

Also read: Director Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s second film Jonaki at MAMI’s India Gold competition section

In Jiit’s film, the character of CiCi is being essayed by Pallabi Chatterjee. The other characters of Shesher Kabita appear in the conversation but not in person. “I am sure the audience will find the flavour of Shesher Kabita all through my film,” says Jiit.

The writer works with Eastern Chronicle