Mithun plays a demon trapped in a man's b

Kalpana Lajmi's Chingari has not been without its share of 'sparks'. Be with us, as we take you through a four day journey with people from the film, starting with the captain of the ship, the director, Kalpana Lajmi:

How come an ardent arty maker like you chose an ultra glamorous Sushmita Sen?

I was on the look out for someone glamorous with a commercial value for my film CHINGARI. In my previous film KYON I had only newcomers and had to go through a harrowing experience with literally every distributor. I guess I've learnt my lessons and didn't want to repeat those mistakes. So this time I wanted to make sure the film holds strong with the distributors. Besides, Sushmita had never before played such a character that of a prostitute and it seemed a good proposition to have a glam actress like her perform this role.

And how has she performed?

She is excellent. I think this is such a role that almost any glam actress from the industry would have loved to enact. But Sushmita has truly done a remarkable job.

And how did you rope in Mithun for the antagonist?

My primary concern was in getting a reputed name to do the main protagonist. With Sushmita taking care of that I shifted focus to the antagonist who needed to be very powerful and a strong character. Mithun Chakraborthy fits the roll to the T. In CHINGARI, Mithun plays a demon trapped in a man's body. He is less of a priest and more of a beast whom the locals worship as well as fear. Once again, Mithun has put his heart and soul into the role and proved to live up to his reputation of being a super performer.

Are you finally succumbing to the pressures of commercial cinema?

Not at all. Having been there and done that in the arty scene I wanted to make a viable project this time round. Before making CHINGARI, I never had any money for it. Just an interesting and powerful script. The first thing I did was to approach Sushmita Sen who agreed almost immediately and gave me 45 days in a stretch but after a year's time. With her on the project I kept looking for a producer for the film which went on for another 6 months. After much hard work I managed to rope in Vikas Sahni and his popular trade figure father BR Sahni and together we managed to collect the required funding.

And how much did the film require?

The total budget of CHINGARI comes close to Rs 4 crore that includes money spent on its publicity and marketing on various television channels and other modes of promotional.

How come you did not get Dr. Bhupen Hazarika to do the music?

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika didn't do the music but he has written the story of CHINGARI. Actually, he had contested the general MP elections in Assam where he didn't turn victorious. This hurt him a lot and he confessed to me that he was not in a frame of mind to do justice to the music of the film. That's when Aadesh Shrivastav stepped in and told me that he'd be interested. What's more, he didn't charge a single penny for his services. What more could I ask for.

Does the film speak the same language as of a real-life prostitute?

The film had bold dialogues, but not blown out of proportion. For example: There's this dialogue that Mithun says to Sushmita… "Tu us ladke ke saath bister pe chad par uske saath cycle pe mat chad…" is the boldest dialogue in the film.