Amitabh Reza: Conscience lies dormant for many. The story aims to awaken it

Amitabh Reza Chowdhury is a director who never fails to captivate audiences with fresh new ideas. With his latest web series 'Bodh', released on the Indian OTT platform Hoichoi on 4 November, Reza has once again found himself in the spotlight on both sides of the border.   

Bodh is Reza's second project with Hoichoi. The series follows the story of Alamgir Hossain, a retired judge, played by actor Afzal Hossain. Alamgir was a capable member of the justice system and had a great deal of faith in his work throughout his career. However, after his retirement, he begins to question a lot of his verdicts. His conscience leads him to look back at his cases as he embarks on a journey to look for the truth. 

Bodh's cast of actors include Dilara Zaman, Runa Khan, Orchita Sporshia, Sarah Alam, Raonak Hasan, Khairul Bashar, Sayeed Babu, and Shahjahan Samrat, among others. Produced by Half Stop Down, the screenplay was written by Jaheen Faruque Amin and Rafiqul Islam Paltu.

'Dhaka Metro', which was released in 2019, was Reza's first series on Hoichoi; Bodh released almost three and a half years after that. The series was preceded by a lot of hype, ever since its trailer was released, and now the show has captivated audiences. But when talking to Reza, he had a very humble response.  

"Generally web series such as this wheels in audiences slowly. We have only begun receiving responses. This is how it's supposed to be," said Reza. "Of course a project such as this will be part of many discussions. At this moment, I am primarily getting feedback from my acquaintances. Not everything is positive, and I don't expect it to be either. But I believe the quality of the work is good and the positive feedback will be higher than the negative."

Reza wanted to explore concepts of morality and conscience in the show. As he explained, "every person has a conscience, but it often lies dormant. The story aims to awaken this very instinct. This is something the audience can identify with." 

"The actors have given it their all for each and every character. This is why the show has mostly received favourable reviews."

Bodh was filmed in a courtroom. Reza's team found it to be quite a challenging task. 

"Despite an extensive planning and preparation phase, we dealt with a lot of repeated issues during the shoot. After we finished shooting a courtroom scene, I discovered that one of the characters' shirt collars needed to be redone. These kinds of unanticipated incidents tend to happen; but it is always problematic."

Reza has also recently released a short film 'Shun Shun' for the OTT platform Binge, where he served as the creative director. He is currently finalising plans for a new web series called 'Golper Ghor Bari'. The project is in its storyboarding phase and Reza intends to begin shooting next month. Additionally, the director stated that he will begin production on a new film in March of next year. This time around he will be exploring politics in his story.