Debi: The journey unfolds

Three or four? I don't clearly remember how old I was. . . .but surely not more than 5. Nothing clear, only glimpses. I partly remember the exterior of the hall, which has remained almost similar through the decades; I remember the hall entrance, the crowd, my parents holding my hands. That's the first time I went to a theatre to watch a movie. It was at Balaka.

And how strange. After decades, on Oct 19, 2018, I was standing at the same premise, but not really looking at the screen; I was looking at the cheering crowd waving at Debi team, very excited with the Debi experience.

The first day first show of my movie happened at the same theatre where I watched a movie for the first time. It's not something very important, but it's unexpected. For the first few days, the response of the crowed seemed surreal. Halls after halls, the crowd was cheering and telling the Debi team that they want to watch more movies like this. Our beautiful and very talented actor, producer Jaya Ahsan assured them that C te cinema will come up with more stories like this.

The audience was very excited to see Ranu, Misir, Anis, Sabet and Nilu at the big screen. They must be, because Debi is one of Humayun Ahmed's most widely read novels. They laughed at the little puns, they got curious as the story was unfolding, they felt excited with the spund effects and actions of the climax, and they screamed a few times. I called Polta Da, our sound designer, that night to give him the good news – Dada, people are screaming when the twins appear. He laughed. I laughed with him too. I never knew one could feel so content after scaring people.

I was relieved and was thinking of the conversations I had with the producer, “Anam, bhoy pabe to?” This is not a horror film, but it has elements of horror in it and now I believe we could trigger that feeling. The way the audience is responding, I can also say that we could trigger the feeling of mystery and supernatural as well. And that means we have not done injustice to my favorite writer's novel.

Such a relief! I was feeling a bit light after a long time. For almost two years the thought of creating Misir Ali for the big screen kept me very tensed.

Anam Biswas is a Director, Advertiser, Composer and Writer.