Prosenjit and Kusum in “Sankhochil”

The story of the 1947 partition of India and its effect on life on both sides of Bengal have been dealt with by a number of film directors, most notably by Ritwik Ghatak, and now added to the list is acclaimed Indian film-maker Goutam Ghose who explores the historic event in his upcoming work “Sankhochil”.

The film, starring Tollywood superstar Prosenjit and Bangladeshi TV actress Kusum Sikder, will be Ghose's third Indo-Bangladesh joint production after “Padma Nadir Majhi” and “Moner Manush”.

The film will be extensively shot in different parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh, and is expected to be ready by the middle of this year, according to the director. 

About the title “Sankhochil”, Ghose explained that despite uniformity of language, food habits and culture, the people are divided by a boundary but there was no such artificial barrier in the free movement of birds.

Ghose dubbed the partition the 'biggest blunder' in the country's history.

The story of “Sankhochil” grew out of Ghose's visits to areas on the border of India and Bangladesh, along with a friend of his who happens to be a senior BSF officer. 

When Ghose offered the role to Prosenjit, he was so excited that he even came forward to jointly produce the film with his Bangladesh counterpart Habibur Rahman.

For his part, Prosenjit said “The moment I heard the script, I sat cross-legged on the floor to take Badal (the protagonist he is playing) inside me, the very posture, manners of a man living in a border village.”

“Badal has only one country, one language. I have now started living with Badal like the way I had done with Lalon when I grew out my hair for months,” Prosenjit added. 

Ghose said with the two Bengals sharing love for art and culture and Bangla being the fifth most-spoken language in the world, more and more films should be produced by the two countries.

Habibur Rahman Khan said “Sankhochil” can be a true document on celluloid about our common shared history and its influence on people.