A finger on the viewer's pulse
Kaushik
Ghatak's had enough of saas-bahu sagas too. He should know.
The young director had the privilege of directing a little over
100 episodes of the meandering family saga Kyunkii Saas Bhi
Kabhi Bahu Thi last year.
He's treading relatively fresh terrain in Indian TV with Sanjivani,
and is understandably excited about the potential. "There's a
limit to the range of action, emotions and relationships you can
have within a family drama," he reasons. A hospital drama series,
on the other hand, offers tremendous scope to play around endlessly
with the same factors, he says.
Ghatak was doing Sanskruti and Shhh..Koi Hai for
Cinevista when Siddharth, a long time friend, discussed Sanjivani
with him in 2001. "I jumped at the idea", he says, " I had
anyway left Kyunkii... with a feeling of saturation, having
done what I could from episode number 35 to 155." After the concept
was approved by Star, the team spent more than eight months researching
the subject, assimilating over 800 case files of patients that
could be incorporated in the storyline. "But it is the moments
in the hospital and the interplay of relations that are more important
than the storyline", he insists.
One time assistant to Partho Mitra, Ghatak's excitement with the
snazzy set put up by Omung Kumar and the complete digital set
up used for filming is palpable. "The resolution, the colour saturation
and the sharpness will be 20 times better," he says, as he takes
a breather between the rigorous 12-hour shift at the Kanjur Marg
set. The obvious camaraderie that exists between the young director
and the four young actors playing the lead roles, will show up
on screen too, he believes. They respond easily to his direction,
and their high energy levels bring a vibrancy to the scenes, says
Ghatak.
A native of Burdwan, West Bengal, Ghatak started off as assistant
to Anurag Basu, after completing a course at the Asian Academy
of Films and TV. A couple of independent ads later, he moved into
serial direction. Aamrat Probashi a Bangla serial, was
his first independent directorial venture. Ghatak has been switching
genres with ease - from soap to thriller to a hospital series
- he stays attuned to what the viewers will like tomorrow.
A meticulous planner, Ghatak confines shooting to four scenes
a day; and takes over a week to can an episode. "In fact", he
says self-deprecatingly, "I have barely completed four episodes
so far." He is taking time, but is assured of the quality of the
output. Thus far, Kyunkii... has been the lone jewel in
his crown in his nearly five-year tenure in the satellite TV industry.
Sanjivani might just be his ticket to the big league.
