Know why ‘seductress’ Radhika Apte is Sujoy Ghosh’s ‘Ahalya’

Kolkata: For the beautiful and mysterious protagonist's role of Ahalya, Ghosh wanted someone, who could look like a seductress without being too obvious about it and he found that in Radhika. "I wanted someone who could play a woman men lust for."

"Radhika has a magnetic quality about her. When I met her and spoke to her, I knew she was Ahalya, as she could completely transform herself into this desirable woman." Ghosh said making a short film is more difficult than directing a full-length feature as it involves time constraints, but he enjoyed working on this new venture.

"I was supposed to do it for a long time. Short films are very tough as compared to making feature films. And not just the timing part, the writing part is a challenge and telling the story which has a beginning, middle and end in that short span of time. So, it may be a few minutes of film but the hard work equals the making of a full-length movie," he said.

Ghosh said the response that Ahalya has been getting from the audience and film industry people is very encouraging and he is happy that everyone is looking beyond the language of the film and appreciating the content and story.

"The response is tremendous. This whole new medium of online viewership is new to me and I am still learning about it. I am really taken aback by the response. So many people are watching it. I don''t think that many number of people have ever watched any of my films," Ghosh said.

"Another interesting aspect is that people are calling it a film and not a Bengali film. That is a very positive sign not just for me but for many filmmakers who make short films in regional languages. It proves that if content is good it can transverse language boundaries," he added.

Ghosh is also glad that after watching the film, people have realised that his 2012 Vidya Balan-starrer ‘Kahaani’ was not a fluke and he can actually pull off ventures like that.

"I am happy that now people are realising and many have told me that they think Kahaani was not a fluke. That is a big compliment," the director said. When asked about his upcoming films, Ghosh, whose last directorial venture was Kahaani, did not give out any details but assured he will be back on the big screen soon.