‘Chowrasta, Crossroads of Love’ is film director Anjan Dutta’s way of bringing the raging Gorkhaland issue, a subject he believes has not been given the attention it requires, on national stage.

“Darjeeling, one of the most beautiful hill stations in the country, is undergoing a crisis. Through the film I want to pay a tribute to Darjeeling, the place where I grew up, and bring the Gorkhaland issue to national audiences,” Dutta told PTI here.

On whether he supports the decades-old demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland to be formed out of West Bengal, Dutta said, “I think whatever is happening (agitation for statehood) is justified. Whatever is happening had to happen.

But I don’t know if Gorkhaland is the solution.”

He said in the film four stories keep interacting with each other, like the Chowrasta - a place where four roads meet - the heart of Darjeeling, the nerve centre of statehood agitation spearheaded by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).

`Chowrasta, Crossroads of Love’, that releases on April 17, is about a terrorist on the run, an aging Bollywood star who meets her ex-husband, an eloped couple who come for a honeymoon to the hill station only to realise that their marriage was mismatched, and a tea planter.

Atul Kulkarni as the terrorist, Victor Banerjee as the tea planter and Roopa Ganguly as the aging actress are among the cast of the film which has been scripted seven years ago.

“The film portrays the romance of Darjeeling, the violence of the North-East, the nostalgia,” Dutta said.

On why he chose to tell the story using four situations, he said, “The film is about Darjeeling. To tell a story about a place you need multi-story plot.”

To a question on the cast of the film, Dutta said, “I believe in characters. The audience comes to watch a good story and a good story comes with well-written, believable characters. You need actors not stars.”

“I always chose actors with the script in mind. The actors I chose are generally people I want to work with or fit the role. When I wrote the script, I wrote it with Victor as the tea planter in mind.”

“I always wanted to work with Atul Kulkarni,” Dutta said, adding when he offered him the role of a terrorist from the North-East he agreed and got on board.

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About the Film:
CAST: Victor Banerjee (Jimmy), Atul Kulkarni (Kenny), Roopa Ganguly (Nandana), Naved Aslam (Sunny), Saswata Chatterjee (Dip), Aparajita (Rita), Arijit Dutta (Jojo), Bhaskar Pradhan (ArunTamang), Vikas Pradhan (Sonam Shiring), Purang Gongha and Neil Bose (Rick).

Songs by: Kunal Ganjawala and Anjan Dutta
Music Director: Neel Dutta
Director of Photography: Indraneel Mukherjee
Line Producer: Sanjay Pathak
Manager Projects - Unilux Films: Vandana Baxi
Costume Designer: Chanda Dutt
Sound Designer: Jojo Chaki and Anirban Sengupta
Creative Consultant: Arghyakamal Mitra
Editor: Moinak Bhowmik
Presented by: S.D. Ahuja, Unilux Films

Chowrasta Crossroads of Love (2009) is the upcoming English Movie form Tollywood Kolkata set be released on April 27, 2009. All Anjan Dutta lovers are already excited about the film after Chalo Let’s Go. “Chowrasta” means the meeting point of four roads. The movie deals with mainly four corners held by various people. Such as Nandana, a fading star from Bollywood with a twelve year old son, the eloped couple Rita and Sunny, the tea planter - Jimmy from Darjeeling, and the terrorist Kenny on run.

Atul Kulkarni plays the role of the terrorist in the film while Victor Banerjee plays the role of a tea-planter. Roopa Ganguly plays the role Nandana.

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