‘I want to make films for masses’
Dipon has finished filming one of the most anticipated films of the year, “Operation Sundarbans” which is set to release on 20 July
Director Dipankar Dipon's first feature film, "Dhaka Attack" won four National Film Awards in 2017. The cop thriller film, starring Arifin Shuvoo, Mahiya Mahi, Taskin Ahmed, among others, was a massive hit which established debutant Dipon as a promising director in the film industry.
His journey in the industry continued successfully since then.
Recently, Dipon has finished filming one of the most anticipated films of the year, "Operation Sundarbans" which is set to release on 20 July.
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Meanwhile, the director has announced a new film, "Antarjal," a cyber crime action thriller. Dipon has slowly emerged as an action thriller director.
In a recent conversation with The Business Standard, the director talked about his works, new film and the film industry.
"As you all know, 'Antarjal' is a cyber war film. The film is going to be made under the banner of Motion People Studios, and produced by ICT Division. In 2019, we signed the contracts for the film, and research works began since then. We travelled across the country including Rajshahi, Jashore and ventured to the IT parks as well."
"This is going to be an absolute commercial film, like my previous works, and the story will be set against the backdrop of cyber crime. The film will be focused on what are the risks of using the internet and how far we have come in terms of using the internet."
"The film will have every single element of a commercial film."
Dipon also informed us that a few cast members have been selected so far. Names of the cast members will be revealed soon through an event.
While speaking, the director also gave us information about his second film, "Operation Sundarbans." He said, "We have finished dubbing. Other works are going on in full swing, if everything goes according to the plan, we hope to release the film on Eid-Ul-Azha."
"Most part of the film was shot in Sundarbans. Filming at the largest mangrove forest was dangerous and the team had to overcome many obstacles," stated the director.
Operation Sundarbans team is set to write a book on the experience of making film. "Dhaka Attack" was produced by Bangladesh Police Paribar Kallyan Samity Ltd while Dipon's next film "Operation Sundarbans" has been produced by RAB Welfare Cooperative Society Ltd.
Arifin Shuvoo played the lead role in the first film, while Siam and Roshan will be in lead roles in the latter film. Dipon hopes to collaborate with Arifin Shuvoo again in his future endeavours.
Dipon expressed his frustration over the current situation of the film industry. "There are only 60-62 cinema halls remaining while there were around 1400 cinema halls in the country before, unfortunately, it is near to impossible to make profit from films in this situation."
"It is true,maybe there will be another alternative if there is no cinema hall, but to revive the cinema halls or the industry, we have to produce better films. We need combined works."
"I believe, firstly, we will have to build cinema halls, and then make better films for those halls to survive and do business. Thirdly and most importantly, we will have to prioritise the audiences. We can get an idea of the audience choice from the social media platforms since most of the audiences are aged between 25-35."
Dipankar Dipon has experience of working with Indian film-maker Anurag Kashyap prior to breaking through Bangladeshi film industry. We asked him about that experience.
"I have learned so much from him. A sense of making films has been created within me by working with him.I have learned how to express my thoughts through films from Anurag. He believes every film-maker has their own thought process, and they should make films based on that.
If somebody doesn't make films from their own beliefs, they would never succeed."
Dipon wants to make at least 10 films in the next 10 years. "I have selected many stories which will take me at least 10 years to make them. Every story is different from one another. Full of surprises. I don't believe in genre based films. I want to make films for the masses, I want to tell stories of life."
