Filmmaker Srijit Mukherji came up with his Bengali film Hemlock Society in 2012, which turned out to be successful. He is now back with a sequel of that movie in the form of Killbill Society. He spoke about the movie in an interview with us.
Srijit Mukherji on Killbill Society, “It’s the only organic sequel in my filmography”
Killbill Society is a sequel to your 2012 hit Hemlock Society. What prompted you to revisit a world you had already inhabited?
Killbill Society is one of the most organic sequels. In fact, I would say the only organic sequel in my filmography. When I made Dwitiyo Purush, it was to give a boost to the production house and to, you know, listen to their request of bringing back the legacy of my Baishe Sabon. And Dawshom Awbotaar was again a result of circumstances where my film for the Durga Puja got cancelled and I had to come on Puja with a larger-than-life spectacle. And sure enough, Dawshom Awbotaar became the biggest blockbuster of 2023. Hemlock Society was always meant to have a sequel because in the last scene we see Ananda Kar, played by Parambrata Chatterjee, taking under his wings a new suicide aspirant and then trying to change his mind. But we were just looking for, you know, a good story.
What was the trigger for Killbill Society?
Angelina Jolie’s real-life incident where she contacted the contract killer to kill her because she was not being able to commit suicide, that real-life incident triggered this plot.
There are some murmurs of dissent about the depiction of mental health
No, the dissent or the murmurs of the dissent that you heard is not about the film, it’s about a marketing campaign which the marketing team had come up. That was seen as a problem and that was actually a problem. But then they went on and corrected it by adding lifeline numbers of people who can give professional help for mental health. So, after that a change was made.
How careful have you been about dealing with mental health in Killbill Society?
The issue of mental health was dealt mainly in Hemlock Society. Killbill Society is more of a love story. It has the same pro-life message as Hemlock, but it is more of a love story.
Your leading man Parambrata Chatterjee says, and I quote, “He (Srijit) was incredibly consistent in the first five years of his career… the problem is, sometimes I feel he gets too obsessed with himself, and ends up making films that are tributes to his own legacy. And those are often unwatchable.”
He said there was a phase and that phase came, according to him, somewhere around 2020 to 2022, 2023. So, that was a phase. I don’t consider that to be recent. Recent works like Padatik, Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei, Shekhar Home, he feels these are vintage. Srijit Mukherji is back. See, that’s his reading of my filmography. I have a slightly different reading.
Tell me about the casting
Killbill Society has Parambrata Chatterjee, Koushani Mukherjee in a role of a lifetime, Biswanath Basu in a role of a lifetime, and Sandipta Sen in a special appearance.
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