“When the first idea of making Professor Shanku came to my mind, I was anxious because at that time VFX was not so developed here. But when SVF contacted me the next time, I thought that this is the right time to make this film on Shanku. Shanku was written before Feluda, so there is a connection too” said director Sandip Ray at the press conference of the upcoming Bengali film Professor Shanku O El Dorado.

Subhasish Mukherjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee and others graced the event.

The makers of the film have pioneered the concept of AR (Augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) to pay tribute to the eccentric scientist. This is the first time any production house in India will be using this technology as part of the promotion of the film.

Dhritiman Chatterjee plays the role of Professor Shanku in the film. He mentioned that the shooting of the film was difficult as they had to travel to Brazil and shoot there. The actor hoped that their hard work will pay off and the film will be loved both by the young audience as well as by the adult movie goers.

The event also saw the announcement of the Shanku Flipbook which would be available across theatres and malls of Kolkata and also at Science City. This is a 20 page interactive book designed exclusively for the kids. The book is made of AR technology where the images from the trailer, comic strip will come alive from the pages of the book when clicked with a Shanku app. The app is available on playstore.

Also seen in the book will be a map from India to Amazonia, interactive games with Shanku and Nakurbabu, various inventions of Shanku coming alive on the screens of the phone.

Speaking about his experience of playing Nakurbabu in the film, Subhasish Mukherjee said “When the director asked me to play the role, he asked whether I had seen the picture drawn by Satyajit Ray. When I saw the picture again, I found a striking resemblance with me. This is the mastery of Satyajit Ray who could see so much ahead of his times”.

Another highlight is the Shanku VR Experience which will be available across theatres and malls of Kolkata and Science City. With the help of this, they will be worn by people and will transport them to Shanku’s laboratory where Shanku will be seen talking with them and also moving around in the laboratory.

The Shanku AR Flipbook and Shanku VR headgear created with tech support from Andreal will be available across in Kolkata from 13^th December onward.

Produced by SVF, the film is eyeing for release on 20^th December nationally and also in Bangladesh.

Priyanka Dutta