T

At the time when I was working on the script, we had cats at home. And my partner rides a motorbike. Sometimes, (particularly around 2016-2017), she collected sand that we sometimes used for cat litter. We didn’t buy the real thing in the shop. So she told me about some experiences she had, as a woman, when she rode her bike to collect the sand. She faced bullying and many other situations, and strange experiences. When I heard all of it, I thought I could develop a story about a person, a woman, or a girl who roams around the city collecting sand for her cat. I was trying to elaborate on that more and turn it into a story that would be interesting for a feature film. I remembered something extraordinary a friend of mine did once upon a time. I developed the male character based on him, so that the person is very ambitious and wants to become a wealthy individual quickly. Many people are like this because they come from small villages without real potential for development, so they want it all and want it fast. It is a common phenomenon, and many fail in the process. But I am not criticising any character of mine, I portray life in Bangladesh.

Regarding that thing with the severed finger, this came from terrible news that shook the society. One woman who was gang raped was killed, and her killers chopped her body in pieces and threw them away like garbage. Initially, I considered using more of it in the movie. Still, I decided to convey this horrendous story in a minimalist form, as a symbol, and let my female lead gradually connect with the absent body of a woman whose finger she found in the sand. That was my primary intention. Of course, audience can feel in another way, but it was my inspiration and ideas about the film.

I am trying not to be either a pessimist or an optimist. The city is presented in its true colours. There is a vibrant side to it, and a sad part as well. When we think about films from South Asia, they are often centred on social issues. Of course, my movie has those elements as well, but it is more than that. You can explore further, such as more psychology or more in terms of cinematic form. You can explore more than that.

I try not to be dramatic. I am not impressed by overacting, and I constantly strive to reduce the melodrama and make the character more natural in terms of expressiveness. When I watched the film with the audience today, I saw that I failed many times. But what I wanted was not to show dramatic acting and not to reveal the fakeness of acting; I just wanted to put them in the situation to see what happened to them as the characters.

Regarding silence. I feel that when we talk, we sometimes lose the purity of communication. We lose the beauty. I prefer to explore stories and people in silence, without dialogue. I am not saying that dialogue can’t be beautiful, and I will probably use more of it in my next movie. However, this movie required more silence, and when spoken word is used, it is about very mundane things, such as day-to-day dialogues.

My female lead had never acted before. I wanted someone pure, someone who can’t act and won’t pretend to be someone else. If they are told to sit down, they do it without overthinking. If I say the same thing to a professional actor, there is immediately a grain of fakery in what they are doing. I prefer working with non-professional actors.

We faced real difficulties. I had a couple of locations in mind, and I needed the permissions. It took a long time to get them. We did a very precise production design, which is how I work. We drew a storyboard and did everything else necessary to avoid chaos. We began our meticulous preparations six or seven months before the shooting started.

Regarding the factory, we were given only 12 hours to shoot there. We had a contact person, and our location manager was particularly good at managing the situation. The same happened with the management of the Amusement park that we used as one of the shooting locations, and we had it at our disposal for five hours.

The film visuals always moved me. Of course, there is a story narrative, but mostly I imagined the visuals of other filmmakers. My director of photography is Mathieu Gombini, who also serves as Director of the Image Department at France’s renowned film school La Fémis. When I sent him my shots, he agreed to join us. He has never visited Asia in his life. So we started to talk regularly. I sent him the photos, telling him everything about that particular location and what kind of look I wanted to have. I would also send him the storyboards and any accompanying materials of importance. So, when he finally arrived, we spent 15 to 20 days revisiting the location, taking new photos, and discussing further steps. And I found that we are on the same page when we discussed Pedro Costa and the way he works with light. I also tried to copy the look from Antonioni, mostly because I find the colour palettes in his movie “Red Desert” beautifully bright. We also spoke a lot about David Lynch. It was clear to both of us that we were going to do this project together.

We had only 17 days to make the film.

We have around 50 ethnic groups in Bangladesh, and they all have their traditions, cultures and languages. I cast one of the leads who comes from a minority group, and that happens to be Victoria. She is a Chakma, and that’s a minority group with a powerful cultural heritage. They have their alphabet, songs, and rituals. When I found Victoria, many people asked me where she’s from, because her features are not typical of the majority that lives in Bangladesh. And each time they would get surprised when I answered: “She’s from here”. Bangladesh is not a monoculture. There are many layers to it.