“I Fell In Love With Varanasi”- Amrita Chattopadhyay
The trailer launch of director Arnab Riingo Banerjee’s crime series Varanasi Junction took place in the presence of the cast and crew of the series.
The story is set in Varanasi. A Youtube blogger goes missing. A political journalist Supriya Chowdhury starts the search for the blogger and comes across many grim situations. The series shows Varanasi in a new light.
Speaking at the trailer launch, the director said “The reason why it is called the Varanasi Junction is that we wanted to shoot something fast. It will take time if we hop from one station to the other. Benaras is a magically beautiful place. It is divine. It is a great place for cinematographers and photographers. There is one ritual happening at one ghat and on the other ghat there is another ritual happening. Death is celebrated here. Even if you do not believe in God, there is something about the Aarti. I have shot before in Benaras before and I am amazed every time I shoot there”.
The series has been shot on the phone. The director mentioned that shooting on the phone is the future of making films.
Amrita Chatterjee said “I have seen Varanasi in Ray’s films. So when I went there to shoot, it was a fantastic experience. We did not get a separate time to explore the city. We explored the city in between shots. We saw everything- from sunrise to sunset to aarti and so on”.
The actress also highlighted that she was told beforehand that the shoot will be hectic and that she will get little time to sleep. However, the experience was fantastic according to the actress. “We had to walk a lot to go to the shooting spots. However, the whole team was so energetic that none of us felt tired. It was a fantastic experience and I fell in love with the place” added Amrita.
The cast of the series consists of Amrita Chatterjee, Judhajit Sarkar, Jitsundar Chakravarty, Ridhwish Chowdhury, Korak Samanta, Abhijit Sengupta, Arup Zaigirdar, Md Kareen and Agniva Banerjee.
It is produced by Ohendrila Banerjee and Ring a Bell Films.
The series Varanasi Junction will release soon on Klikk.
Video link of the event- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0hk-yophZI
Priyanka Dutta