Scripting a murder

Bollywood can hardly be said to be lax when it comes to grabbing real-life inspiration for its movies. And with truth often proving stranger than fiction, perhaps filmmakers can’t be blamed for not wanting to let go of a “readymade” story. RGV made Not A Love Story (2011) based on the 2008 murder of Neeraj Grover by Maria Susairaj and Emil Jerome.

The filmmakers, however, denied that their plot was based on the case — although the details of the story were a dead giveaway as to the “source” matter. Then, even as the Aarushi Talwar case played out in courts, two films based on it were announced — Rahasya and Talvar.

But the Indrani Mukerjea-Sheena Bora case has inspired not one, or two — but three film projects. While it was played up as a “primetime murder” on television, a slew of films were announced based on it. Among them is Dark Chocolate, a Bengali film by Agnidev Chatterjee, starring Mahima Chaudhry and Riya Sen; Ek Kahaani Julie Ki featuring Rakhi Sawant and Kanti Shah’s unimaginatively titled Sheena Murder Case. At the same time director Mahesh Bhatt said in an interview that he had penned a script very similar to the Sheena-Indrani case — much before the murder was ever unearthed.

Dark Chocolate, however, is the first to make it to the “finish line”. The film’s first look was unveiled on January 15, and a release date of February 19 has been announced. DC got an update on the status of these films, and when they’re expected to hit the big screen:

Dark Chocolate
Director: Agnidev Chatterjee
Cast: Mahima Chaudhry, Riya Sen
Status: Completed
Release date: February 19

Writer and director Agnidev Chatterjee says that Dark Chocolate is not “totally based” on the Sheena-Indrani case; rather, it has been “inspired” by it. “As the matter is sub judice, we can’t take names and do it directly. So, you might find a lot of similarities but it is not a frame-to-frame account of what exactly happened. It is my version of perhaps what had happened and how it had happened. As material, whatever I have read in the newspapers and watched on television channels is all I have, so we are adding the missing pieces to the puzzle from the film’s point-of-view,” Chatterjee told us.

The director has said that the macabre nature of the crime made him hesitant to make the film, but reactions from those who have seen the film in select closed-door screenings has been positive. The filmmakers also sought legal counsel before starting the shoot to avoid any hassles.

The film’s lead actress Mahima Chaudhry (who plays the Indrani-inspired character, Ishani Banerjee) says that the entire film was shot in 10 days. She also explained the relevance of the film’s title — “If you saw the headlines, you had to read the whole story (when it came to the Sheena-Indrani case), so the film’s name comes from that: Irresistible like chocolate, but once we read/heard all about it, it left a bitter taste in the mouth. That’s why Dark Chocolate. Also it’s not just the character that I play which is dark, even her accomplices are dark. Everybody in the film is not even grey.”

 

Ek Kahaani Julie Ki
Director: Avadh Sharma
Cast: Rakhi Sawant
Status: Nearly complete, one overseas schedule to be shot
Release date: Not decided yet

In the days immediately after the Indrani-Sheena case broke out, Rakhi Sawant managed to grab the limelight even in the midst of all the salacious details emerging in the main story. She organised a prayer meet for “dear friend” Indrani and soon enough, announced that she would be starring in a film about Mrs Mukerjea. Given Rakhi’s sentiments, it is fair to say that the film — titled Ek Kahaani Julie Ki — would have taken a sympathetic look at Indrani.

While several videos and posters have been released to promote the film, we have learned that the film itself has veered away from its original story. “The film was based on Indrani Mukerjea but now we have changed the script a little. We are no longer concentrating on the Indrani angle as her husband Peter Mukerjea said he would sue us if we went ahead with the film,” Rakhi said, when we contacted her to ask about the status of the film. “So, we have changed the characters and I now play the lead role of a psychopath. We have shot the film in Goa, Udaipur, Madh and we will now be going abroad to shoot for the songs.

The release date hasn’t been finalised yet but we will be having a press conference soon to divulge more details,” she added.

Sheena Murder Case
Director: Kanti Shah
Cast: Sapna Tanveer
Status: Eighty per cent complete, trailer to be released in February
Release date: In April, tentatively

In his long career, Kanti Shah has been associated with films like Gunda, Garam, Free Entry, Loha and Duplicate Sholay. So when he announced that he would be making a film on the Sheena-Indrani case, it was assumed that it would be in the same titillating mould as his previous films. And Shah hasn’t disappointed. He has said in previous interviews that his film features “six bold scenes in all, which also include frontal nudity. But, the whole sleaze angle is not “thrust” into the film, but is in tune with the requirement of the story plot”.

When we contacted Shah to check on the status of his film, he told us that the idea occurred to him when he was watching Talvar. “It really impressed me. And just like the Arushi case, the Sheena Bora case is also a very interesting one. I know that two or three other people are also doing a film on the same subject, but even with the Arushi case, movies other than Talvar were made on it. But I have made my film keeping the style and format of Talvar in mind and am hoping that mine will also be successful, critically and commercially, like it. Sheena Murder Case is almost 80 per cent complete.”

The title does seem to be somewhat of a misnomer since the actual focus of the film is on Indrani’s life — “Not just her corporate life, but her early life in Guwahati and Kolkata as well,” says Shah. “We have fictionalised chunks of the story but have kept the original idea and theme in place. The film is scheduled to release in April and we will be launching the trailer next month.”