National award-winning director Kaushik Ganguly has said that his latest venture, ‘Lokkhi Chhele’ (An Angel’s Kiss), should not be merely slotted as a regional film but a movie that should be remembered all over the country for its content.

The Bengali film, to be released this week, tells the story of three medical students who stand against superstition and religious dogma prevalent in a village and their endeavour to bring a change in the life of people there.

This film has been made from the need to reach out to people and as far as treatment of the subject is concerned, a celebrated French filmmaker might have handled it in a far more layered way cinematically, he said. “But I have followed my narrative style and can say that as far as content is concerned, ‘Lokkhi Chhele’ transcends regional barrier”, the ‘Laptop’ director told PTI.

The director-actor had the experience of having worked with Churni Ganguly, his wife, and an actor of repute, but this film also features their son Ujaan and newcomers Purab Sil Acharya and Rithika. Indrasish Roy and Pradip Bhattacharya are the other important members of the cast besides Churni Ganguly. He said the film has been inspired by a real-life incident in Bihar which had initially fired his imagination to build a narrative. It was embellished by similar incidents one comes across at fairs where conjoined twins, women having four hands, etc are on display at shows, not keeping their agonies into consideration. The movie is about three medical students and a child born with four hands. It also busts voodooism, and pseudoscience and is against superstition, and gives a call to fight the system, the maker of ‘Arekti Premer Golpo’(Just Another Love Story) and ‘Nagarkirtan’ (The Eunuch and The Flute Player) said.

About casting Ujaan in the film, Ganguly said ''a doctor doesn't usually operate on his child. As a director, I was tense about my actor son, if I could deal with him in the same way as I would with any other actor. The tremendous help by co-actors and other team members helped me overcome the jitters”. This film is Ujaan’s second film after ‘Rosogolla’. ‘Lokkhi Cheley’ helped in cementing the friendship as father and son which would not have happened in the same way if they did not have such quality time on sets, the director said. Ujaan, who had studied at Oxford and decided to join the film world and has dreams to become a filmmaker one day, said ''I have picked up a lot as an actor from my father. ''On the sets, I used to make mental notes. An actor should also nurture the instinct of a director, which is part of any actor's journey'', he explained.

Talking about the film, he said ''the poster of a four-handed child throws some light on the subject. I could have made a girl as the protagonist of the film but Ujaan's character as the protagonist would strike the right balance''.

Director-producers Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay and Nandita Roy are producing the film.

''It is our privilege to have Kaushik Ganguly as director of one of our productions. We have always promoted films with a social message. Lokkhi Chele will also debunk superstition as a film'', Mukhopadhyay said.

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