Pradipta Bhattacharya's first animated short film Lyaad, featuring Ritwick Chakraborty, to release on social media

For the first time, actor Ritwick Chakraborty has been taken on board for an animated short film. Directed by Pradipta Bhattacharya, Lyaad is a musical journey of an overworked, successful corporate employee. The film has been originally conceptualised by Shankar Seal and Anirban Ajay Das.

Lyaad is Chakraborty’s third project with Bhattacharya. In Bhattacharya’s first National award-winning film Bakita Byaktigoto (2013), Chakraborty played Pramit, an independent filmmaker, who ends up in a surreal environment in search of love. He also played the protagonist in Rajlokhi O Srikanto.

In Lyaad, which translates to doing nothing and not feeling guilty about it at the same time in Bengali, he plays Kinkar, who is caught between the incessant pressure of his boss and an ever-demanding wife. Hence, he makes an unusual friendship with the king of ghosts, Raja Da and asks from him a boon for Lyaad.

According to press release, “What follows is a hilarious roller coaster of an epic slumber, a trip to fantasy land.”

It reportedly took 65 days of meticulous animation which was done by Amit Kumar Bagchi. According to Das, “The arrangement of the song is in jazz blues genre with a flair of hip-hop intonations! However, the sound design is very distinctively different from a regular jazz number though.”

“From the very word Lyaad, I knew I have got something exciting and fun to work upon, something that is very different to what I was doing all this while!” the director, known for his films narrating stories from rural Bengal, said.

Lyaad is slated for release on social media platforms on 11 January.