Actress Dipannita Sharma, who has been active in the film industry since her debut in the 2002 film 16 December, recently starred in and co-produced Pepper Chicken, a gripping psychological thriller directed by Ratan Sil Sarma. The film, also starring Karwaan fame Boloram Das, has been shot entirely in Assam with the cast and crew from the state.
The film stars Dipannita as RJ Vaidehi, who on the day before her wedding embarks on a taxi ride that changes her life.
Dipannita talked about the appreciation the film has received online. “It was our idea to give the audience an ‘edge of the seat’ experience through the thriller and with the psychological twists. As an actor and co-producer of the film, it is fulfilling. Especially because we set out to do something that was unprecedented, we shot an entire Hindi film in Assam, in the jungles of Chandubi with our entire cast and crew from there. And it was a challenge of several departments and in several ways. But I think the energies were amazingly aligned and we all came together as a team.
“Perhaps that’s why the results are being appreciated even though it is an independent film and not a very big production. It’s being appreciated more than a lot of big productions that have been released at the same time. So I think somewhere our hard work and sincerity probably have paid off. And I’m very happy to be a part of this project as an actor and as a co-producer under my production house, North East Film Studio, which I share with my business partner,” Dipannita shared.
It was also important for Dipannita as a co-producer, that the film would be shot in Assam and have an Assamese cast and crew. The film also starred popular stars of the state’s film and television industry, as well as stalwarts of Assamese theater.
“I feel very happy that we’ve been able to achieve something like this which hasn’t been done before. Shooting an entire Hindi film with an entire cast from there. Actors Baharul Islam and Ravi Sharma are such big stars in Assam. And for them to come together was to make this dream come alive. For us, we wanted to represent Assam in the mainstream media, at least for me, as a co-producer under Northeast Film Studio. This has always been one of our driving forces. The whole point of Northeast Film Studio was to somehow project the Northeast and Assam to the rest of the country.
“The point of Pepper Chicken, apart from the fact that we needed to stay true to the content, was also that we can shoot a Hindi language film with actors from the region and make it as authentic as a film shot in any other part of the country. Just because it is shot in Assam, does not mean it is shot in Assamese. All kinds of films, from across the country can be shot there. So that was in our focus for sure. The original producer, Mr. K Zaman, Ratan Sil Sarma and the cinematographer, Bapu Deka are all from there,” she explained.
“We also wanted to explore the unexplored. I don’t think a psychological thriller in Hindi has been shot in the Chandubi jungles of Assam. I’ve always seen very beautiful and romantic Assamese songs and videos being shot there. But the jungles of Chandubi have a different feel and look during the night and we wanted to capture that and project it. I honestly always felt that those jungles could look as good as any forest anywhere in the world. There’s a lot of jungles in Europe which, I feel, resemble Chandubi jungles. And it was my first time there so there was a lot of feelings shooting the film. It was a mix of projecting Assam and the logistics and the fact that a great team had come together to create something that wasn’t done before,” she added.
Pepper Chicken is a psychological thriller that leaves a lot for the audience to comprehend. A google search about the film leads to many people asking for an explanation of the ending. When asked if she had any apprehensions in presenting a psychological thriller to a spoon-fed audience, she said that she was initially approached as an actor and then made the call to co-produced because psychological thrillers was her favorite genre.
“I feel that if you give the audience something that you are convinced about as makers and you believe in the subject, I think the audience might accept it. It might take a little while but they will accept it. Yes, a lot of times a lot of films do spoon-feed their audience. But I feel until and unless you don’t present something new, how will the audience know that there is this potential as well in the realm of films? So the audience will accept and enjoy content once you as actors, as creators are convinced about what you’re presenting them. So once that happens I think things are sorted mostly from both sides,” she signed off.
Pepper Chicken is streaming on ShemarooMe Box Office.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
Comments
0 comment