Filmmakers Onir, Sanjay Suri and director Bikas Ranjan Mishra reveal that they faced one of their worst nightmares when the child artiste zeroed in to play the main protagonist Santu in their film Chauranga dropped out a few days before the film was to go on the floors.
“Yes, we were without the lead actor right before we were to start shooting as the child was not granted holidays from the school,” share the trio. As luck would have it they finally got child actor Soham Maitra on board. “Soham came with an innocence and a spontaneity that lifted the script,” says Bikas. The young actor also bonded instantly with his screen brother played by Riddhi Sen and so the chemistry translated on screen too.
The director adds that Soham was required to learn to use the ‘hoop and roll’ and since there was very less time, the actor would carry it to his school to practice the game form. “He perfected it pretty quickly,” adds Bikas.
