Animesh Aich enjoys creating for OTT platforms

Released earlier this month on the OTT platform Bioscope, director Animesh Aich's Makal tells stories of people with deceiving appearances, like the outwardly beautiful Makal fruit that hides inside a putrid-looking core. 

The story revolves around a con man, who evades capture by law enforcement. When the police do catch someone, confusion arises about the identity of the person being detained. 

Filmed a few months ago in a number of different locations including Rajbari, the series stars Intekhab Dinar, Archita Sporshia, Jeetu Ahsan, Hasan Masood, and Raonak Hasan. 

In a recent interview with The Business Standard director Animesh Aich shared how the series materialised and his experience of creating for an OTT platform.

The story for the series was first pitched to Aich by Makal producer Shariar Shakil. But Aich didn't like the story at first. 

"I was working with producer Shariar Shakil on some other projects. One day he said something with a story of a thief or a con man. He suggested a few stories. But I didn't like them that much. I was thinking of doing something different – from a very local perspective," said Aich. 

The director ended up writing the story and screenplay. He wanted to incorporate an unconventional narrative. 

"The story of thief and cop is very common. The cop would chase and catch the thief. But I wanted to show the story through a different narrative, something not conventional," said Aich. 

The director and writer wanted to inject confusion in the narrative, creating uncertainty about identities of the characters. 

"I tried to create confusion – who is the real thief and if the protagonist is really the person he says he is. I don't know if there are other Bangla contents like this. I don't think there are many examples."

Though Animesh has worked with OTTs before, he particularly enjoyed working on this project.

"It's been fun working with OTTs. I think the budget is a little higher, and you get a little more time and flexibility. So, you can do better work and with care," said the director.

This flexibility allowed him to move away from making traditional natok (TV drama). 

"Nowadays, everyone is working in OTT format. Films as well as web serieses are coming out on these platforms. In general, the trend is serving us well. I, for one, have almost stopped making natoks. Especially for the last few years, I didn't do anything."

The OTT format also appears to allow more room for creativity and play. The five episodes in the Makal series are named after five fingers, allegorising five different characteristics and meanings.

"Each episode is named after one finger of the hand. When I finished writing the story, I thought about what could be proper names for each episode. Naming reflects the storytelling. For instance, the last episode's name is briddhanguli (the thumb) and here the con protagonist shows 'briddhanguli' to everyone," said Aich. 

Just as with the development of characters, Animesh Aich was also careful about choosing lead actors. "I have worked with most of them for a long time. I'm comfortable with them. I know their capability. With that thought in mind, I developed each character."

The show cast the long-absent from the screen TV star Jeetu Hasan. 

"One interesting thing is that I had never worked with Hasan Masood before. He is an amazing person. We also brought back Jeetu Ahsan, who was not regular in the last couple of years in acting. When we pitched the role to Jeetu bhai, he readily agreed to perform in the series," the director told TBS. 

Animesh Aich has a number of projects lined up with one scheduled to start shooting next month and others to be followed soon.