Stumbling across ‘college teacher’ Chanchal Chowdhury

Chanchal Chowdhury was seen walking fast along a small village lane on the sets. Suddenly, Masum Basher walked up to him. They soon started quarrelling, with the camera rolling.

Just as this scene was being shot, a loud voice made way, distorting the dialogues of the in-shot actors. "We have to shoot this scene again," said a rather annoyed Lavlu. "There's noise from outside. Who is talking outside?"

"Please be quiet, the shoot is ongoing," said a man from the shooting unit while Chanchal Chowdhury and Masum Basher redo the scene.

"Cut! There's an unnecessary motorbike sound disturbing the scene," screams director again. The unit members turn around, and see a motorbike passing by. The crew waits for the bike to pass and resumes shooting. Before they start rolling, Salahuddin Lavlu said, ""Everyone, please settle down and action!"

This time, both the artistes garner praises from the director for their performances as they finish the scene in one go.

As the crew wrapped up, the director walked through the lane with an umbrella as Chanchal Chowdhury followed him. Soon, a loud feminine voice was heard from the other side of the lane. "Look look! Chanchal Chowdhury," a lady amongst a group of ladies passing by the road smiles noticing the star across the lane.

The team prepares for the next take, which is to be shot in a veranda. A camera and a monitor were already set up under a tree, with busy production members setting up the scene.

"This scene will feature Chanchal, Mim, and Maha," informed Lavlu. "Let us rehearse the scene once before we start.

Following Lavlu's lead, the artistes rehearse for 10 minutes, as the director instructs them about positioning, blocking and the expressions he is expecting from them.

Just as he heard the word "Action!" Chanchal Chowdhury put on his glasses, and started leaving his house hastily when his students Maha and Mahi appear before him. Being a college teacher by profession in the show, he is also the home tutor of these two. The two students wished to run off as soon as they saw their teacher but they fail to avoid him.

"Sir, I heard that Sonda Panda has beaten you with a kunchi (the slim part of a bamboo)? Is that true?" says a student.

"Who dares beat me?" says Chanchal Chowdhury angrily. "You two heard it wrong, there is a mistake somewhere. Do not commit such a mistake even by mistake."

"Since we already met today, let's finish today's session," says Chanchal Chowdhury as he fixes his glasses. "Go bring your English subject books."

"We will not be studying today," says a student among the two, and a heated conversation takes place. Losing his calm, Chanchal Chowdhury starts expressing his anger, but his students tease him, incorporating humour into the scene." The long scene concludes and all the artistes go for a costume change.

"I am doing a serial on Brindabon Das's script with Chanchal Chowdhury again after eleven years," shares Lavlu during the tea break.

The shooting resumes with the sequence where Chanchal Chowdhury hurriedly leaves for college, meeting Mim and Maha again. A similar themed scene is then shot with three retakes, ending with the director announcing a lunch break.

After lunch, Chanchal Chowdhury shared a bit about his character in the serial. "I play a college teacher who takes tuitions in Sonda-Panda," he said. "The character is a comic one, who shows off his English speaking skills in every conversation he has."

As the sun started to set, the unit members got busy preparing for the nighttime scenes. However, an untimely load shedding proponed everything for an hour. The shooting concludes with a scene where an anxious and afraid Chanchal Chowdhury flees off.

After the scene was perfected in a single take, the director at 10 pm, said, "Pack up! Let us all go home now."

Translated by Akhlakur Rahman