Noor Imran Mithu on his 'Komola Rocket'

After Pipra Bidya, you were not seen in any films. Why so?

Mithu: I never really considered myself to be an actor before Pipra Bidya. I was an assistant director to Farooki bhai (Mostofa Sarwar Farooki). One day, he told me that he was going to make a film and wanted me to act in it. At first, I hesitated, but he assured me that I would manage. To be honest, acting was not my passion. I was always interested in filmmaking. After Pipra Bidya, I continued with filmmaking and started making short documentaries.

Tell us about Komola Rocket.

Mithu: I am a huge fan of writer Shahaduz Zaman. I read one of his short stories called Moulik, and thought of making it into a film. I wrote a script but was not satisfied with it. I felt like the storyline was not good enough to be directed. I then read another story written by Shahaduz Zaman-- Cyprus -- and incorporated one of the characters into my script. This is how the journey started and we began shooting. The story is about a journey on a steamer which included people from all spheres of life. The steamer is a hundred years old.

What are the challenges you faced while directing for the first time?

Mithu: Art is about creating your own element, which I always wanted to achieve. Surprisingly, everything has turned out to be miraculous in my case. Even though it is not easy to make a film, everyone has been so helpful and supportive, hence making my journey smoother. From managing a producer to forming an entire team of actors, camera-people, makeup artistes -- everything worked in my favour. Also, my experience with Farooki bhai in the past helped immensely. My team consists of talents like Tauquir Ahmed, Mosharraf Karim, Samia from Lux Channel i Superstar, Joyraj, Dominic Gomez, Editor Samir Ahmed and many more. We reshot few scenes too, so the technical team was very patient in this case.

What are your future projects?

Mithu: I have three scripts ready, and I will start working on them after Eid-ul-Adha.