F
or the first time in his filmmaking career, Su-
joy Ghosh, who had a breakout hit with Ka-
haani (2012), was involved in two projects
at the same time—Badla, a revenge drama/
crime-thriller that came out in March, and Typewriter, a
mystery-horror series set in Goa that just released on Net-
flix. “It is damn scary,” he says with a laugh, about working
in two projects simultaneously. Typewriter was commis-
sioned in 2017, but he was never supposed to direct Badla.
He did so because Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu,
who star in it, insisted he helm the project.
Ghosh, who made his directorial debut with Jhankar
Beats (2003), has taken his time with films, having made
only six in 16 years, besides the two wonderful shorts,
Ahalya and Anukul. He says he enjoys the gaps, and will
never again work on two projects at the same time.
This is also the first time he is writing and directing a full-
fledged show. That, too, in the horror genre. It is unfamiliar
territory. “The closest I got to making something [like that]
was with Ahalya,” he says. The short film was inspired by
the Ramayana and had won plaudits, both for the story
and execution. But, unlike the 12-minute-long Ahalya,
Typewriter is a five-episode series. “During Ahalya, I was
cursing about getting so little time....,” he says. “Now, sud-
denly, I am given many hours and I don’t know [how to
utilise them well]. It is a whole change of structure.”
You can enhance a film through the big names asso-
ciated with it, but everyone is equal in a series, he says.
Hence, when you are writ-
ing it, every character and
location has to be given
equal importance. “You
have to be loyal to every
single feature; one can’t
take precedence over the
other,” he says, contrasting
it with films like Kahaani in
which the focus was always
on the protagonist Vidya
Bagchi (Vidya Balan). “I
never got into the details
of Rana Sinha (Parambrata
Chatterjee) after he left the
tram [in the film],” he says.
“But in a series, I have to go
to Rana’s house.”
However unsure Ghosh
seems, his show is a fresh
change from the crime sa-
gas populating the stream-
ing platforms. He does not
seem too keen on intellec-
tualising it, though. It is a@LEISURE
CINEMAThe
factor
fear
Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh on the making
of his first horror series, TypewriterBY PRIYANKA BHADANI68 THE WEEK • AUGUST 4, 2019
ALL MY WORK
HAS BEEN A
RESULT OF
WHAT I HAVE
READ AND
WATCHED.
Sujoy Ghosh