A cross-border dream called "Krishnakoli"

For six years, Bangladeshi writer-cultural activist Masud Karim, with no filmmaking experience, chased his cross-border dream of making the first full-fledged documentary on Satyajit Ray's favourite hero Soumitra Chattopadhyay before realising it.
Among the countless fans of stage and film actor Soumitra Chattopadhyay whom he considers as a "cultural icon", Karim said he failed to meet the actor in 2008 during the Durga Puja in Kolkata to discuss with him the idea of the documentary.
"One day, I called Soumitrada but he flatly refused to meet me due to his busy schedule because of several events during the Puja time. Then came a long hiatus when I had to be content by watching his performance on the stage at Rabindra Sadan and Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata," Karim told PTI.

As he groped for a strategy to meet the actor, Karim decided to get Chattopadhyay's interview towards the end of 2013 and managed to get one. The interview was published in several leading dailies of Bangladesh.
The strategy worked. "In April 2014, I again met Soumitra Chatterjee with the newspaper clippings of the interview and I felt he was happy to see his interview published in Bangladesh. Sensing his mood, I broached the subject of the documentary. Luckily, he immediately agreed."
"I have been chasing this dream across the border for six years and this is a dream come true for me," Karim told PTI.

The documentary "Krishnakoli" had its premiere in Kolkata on April 28 and was screened at the Indian High Commission auditorium in Dhaka last week, drawing appreciation from the audiences.
Karim said that in the documentary, Chattopadhyay has shared many "previously unknown" aspects of his film and personal life, especially his early life in life in Krishnanagar in West Bengal, school life and marriage.
The hour-long film has director Mrinal Sen, Soumitra's daughter Poulumi Chatterjee, cameraman Soumendu Roy and several friends of the thespian like Sudhir Chakraborty, yesteryears footballer P K Banerjee, Ananda Publisher's Subir Mitra and Dey's publishers Sudanshu Shekhor Dey talking about him.