Tathagata Mukherjee touches political reality with his Bhotbhoti starring Rishav Basu, Bibriti Chatterjee

Bhotbhoti stars young actors Rishav Basu and Bibriti Chatterjee in the lead.

Unveiling the film's trailer recently, Mukherjee said he had conceived the story in 2012 from the then political scenario.

"I was motivated by the then political scenario while writing Bhotbhoti in 2012. I remember some developments in Manipur back then and women went out to protest," said Mukherjee, who waited for "the right producer" to make the film, which was also delayed due to the pandemic.

The film narrates the story of a young man, Bhotbhoti (played by Basu), who lives in a slum near Ganga ghat.

He is obsessed with the belief that there's a mermaid in the river and his fantasy turns real when he meets the mermaid Ariel, played by Chatterjee.

Speaking about his preparation for the role, Basu, whose web series Srikanto was a hit in recent times, says, "During the rehearsal process, we were going through a lot of things. Each day I tried a different character.

"But slowly and steadily, me and Tathagata-da agreed that this character will have to be very simple. The brief was 'remain simple'. That was the whole cue and that's how we discovered Bhotbhoti."

Anirban Chakrabarti (L) and Debolina Dutta (R)

Speaking to the media, Mukherjee revealed his lead actor Chatterjee had "ran away" hearing the role and script.

"I was overly sensitive about a few things and initially I thought I would not be able to pull this character off," Chatterjee tells India Blooms when asked about Mukherjee's claim.

Apart from Basu and Chatterjee, the film stars Dipankar Dey, Mamata Shankar, Rajatava Dutta, Anirban Chakabarti, Debolina Dutta et al.

The film is slated for Aug 11 release.