FORTUNE FAVOURS THE STEADFAST
Prasun Chatterjee had to persevere for eight years to ensure the theatrical release of his film Dostojee
TWO FRIENDS
A still from Dostojee
Not enough is written about the entrepreneurial abilities of Indian independent filmmakers. Few understand what a gargantuan undertaking it is for someone without ‘connections’ in the industry to go out and raise money, to shoot a film as per their vision, and then release it. Prasun Chatterjee, for instance, a self-taught filmmaker, had to wait eight years to see his directorial debut, Dostojee, reach the big screen. Slated to hit theatres on November 11, it has been a long, winding road.
Set in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition and the ’93 Bombay bomb blasts, Dostojee follows two inseparable eight-year-olds, Palash and Shafikul, who live in a village on the border between India and Bangladesh. Once polarisation reaches their village, it casts a shadow on their friendship. “I wanted to examine the pristine world of children, which we as adults, contaminate bit by bit,” says Chatterjee. The film hints at the larger mood of the nation, yes, but it also grapples with loss, with the grief of losing a loved one and how it forces one to grow up before their time.
Speaking from his Dum Dum residence, Chatterjee recounts how he ran away to Delhi at the age of 20. Later, upon returning home and working with a theatre group in Kolkata, he got the idea for the film in 2013, and started writing in 2014. “I spent the first two years looking for a producer. Raising money in West Bengal can be challenging, and I can’t blame them. They have a different calculation for making films,” says Chatterjee. He tried a crowdfunding campaign in 2017, which in his own words was a ‘flop’. “We raised around Rs 2.5 lakh for a project that ended up costing Rs 2.5 crore!” Then Chatterjee met Prosenjit Ranjan Nath, a software entrepreneur, and Soumya Mukhopadhyay, the owner of Cherry Pix studio. “Between these two, they took care of about 30 per cent of the film’s budget, which was a start.” Chatterjee also reached out to private investors, who made small contributions: “Some contributed Rs 2 lakh, someone gave Rs 5 lakh.”
The rough cut that Chatterjee made was selected in NFDC Film Bazaar’s ‘recommends’ section as a ‘work-in-progress’ project in 2019. From there, Ivy Yu Hua-Shen (from Taiwan) came on board as a co-producer. Having premiered at the 2021 BFI London Film Festival, Dostojee has played in over two dozen countries and won eight awards. “I think we’re at a point where we’re cautiously confident about not just recouping our investment, but also making a tiny profit,” says Chatterjee. The film has undoubtedly given him much, but the director claims it has also taken a lot out of him: “It’s been painful, but also satisfying.” Today, he has two offers from studios in Mumbai. Good things, it seems certain, come to those who wait. ■