Ritwick Chakraborty is Pradipta Bhattacharya's Srikanta

Ritwick Chakraborty will be soon seen as the iconic character Srikanta created by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay, in Pradipta Bhattacharya’s upcoming film Rajlokkhi O Srikanto. Numerous films have already been made on this particular storyline from Chattopadhyay’s novel Srikanta, including Rajlakshmi O Srikanta (1958), Indranath Srikanta-o-Annadadidi (1959) and Iti Srikanta (2004).

Bhattacharya’s film will also feature Rahul Banerjee as Hukumchand and Bangladeshi actress Jyotika Jyoti as Rajlokkhi; while Sayan Ghosh will play Indranath and Aparajita Ghosh, Annadadidi.

The film will reportedly have an experimental approach on the original story. “The character of Srikanta has always been my favourite and I have been willing to make a film on the character since I completed my studies. However, now the times have changed and hence, I have changed the storyline quite a lot. Besides, I feel that it is more challenging to explain a classical literature with individual perspective than to just deliver the story as it is,” said the director in an interview with Anandabazar Patrika.

The director also explained that the character of Srikanta in his film is timid, a dreamer and distracted, who loves to be flattered. Rajlokkhi is a courtesan, whose life is riddled with hardships. “In the novel, Srikanta has a friend with not much agency, but in my film the friend has an important role and I have given him a name, Hukumchand. Also, I have transformed the character of Indranath quite a lot,” added the director.

The director also stated that the story, reconceptualised by him, went through a lot of transformations while shooting. He also faced a lot of issues in the process of making the film and hence, the shooting was postponed for days.

Music will play an important role in the film. A few songs have been recorded in the voice Kanai Das Baul and the others will be of the semi-classical genre.