by Subhash K Jha

Rajshree Ojha is back with a film Chaurahen about human relationships, based on 4 short short stories by the eminent Hindi litterateur Nirmal Varma.

"I had no money, no contacts. Only my diploma film Badger based on a short story by Jug Suraiya. I think Nirmalji liked my short- film. He asked me, ‘Okay. Beta take whichever story you like. ' I told him I want four stories. He did a double take, ‘Chaar kahani kya karegi'. I had to explain to him that I want to mesh together 4 of Nirmalji's stories to depict human relationships. "

One of the stories is about a 60-plus man Bengali man played by Victor Bannerjee and his irresistible attraction to a foreigner played by Charlie Chaplin's grand-daughter Kiera.

Says Rajshree fondly, "I shot with Kiera in New Market in Kolkata where there's a movie theatre named after her grandfather. I took her to see it. Kiera shot in some of the most crowded localities in Kolkata without any luxuries

. We had no money to pay her and not even a trailer. She used to sit out in the sun in the streets without a care in the world, unlike some of our stars who can't seem to step out of their homes without their luxuries. "

Giggles Rajshri, "When we decided to do an adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma there were many layers to the character. I don't know where those layers vanished.

While doing Nirmal Varmaji's stories this time I was very clear on one thing. No compromise this time. I've made Chaurahen exactly the way I wanted to. I had no money. But I had the freedom to do what I wanted. "