Home » Press & News » News » Film on Dhananjoy hanging case
One of the most hotly debated crimes of our times -the murder of 14-year-old Hetal Parekh in 1990 and the subsequent hanging of Dhananjoy Chatterjee for it in 2004 -will play out on the big screen next year, with director Arindam Sil ready to shoot a film on the controversial topic.
“While many politicians and the media supported the court’s hanging verdict, many others felt that a poor security guard was executed though his guilt was far from established. My film will be a human document with an investigative angle to prove that Dhananjoy was not guilty . I hope this film will reopen the case and prove Dhananjoy’s innocence.There is a clause in the Constitution, which has the provision for a person to be proven innocent even after his death,” said Arindam. While the director wants to cast a number of new faces in the film, for Dhananjoy’s role he’s chosen his current favourite, Anirban Bhattacharya. Anirban has already acted in Sil’s Eagoler Chokh and is set to be part of his next project, Durga Sohay. Arindam told us that the idea of the film came to him while he was watching a documentary on Dhananjoy by MS Sathyu.”Then I read a compilation on Dhananjoy by Prabal Chowdhury and Debasish Sengupta, which proves that he was not guilty. Then Atanu (Ghosh) gave me a 3,500-page research paper on him. Padmanabha (Dasgupta), Atanu and I sat together and developed a script and I thought of Shrikant (Mohta) since the producer has to go all out to support a film that is more than just entertainment,” said Sil. He was game but wanted a foolproof script. He also wants me to shoot in locations like Dhananjoy’s house, central jail, Dhananjoy’s cell, Hetal Parekh’s house in Bhawanipore and so on,” said Sil. The film will go on the floors in February .
“Dhananjoy said three things before he was hanged –that police should have investigated the case properly , that he was poor and it worked against him and that everyone should be happy . I will meet everyone associated with the case -be it the then police commissioner or those who did the forensic tests,” said Arindam. The film’s narrative will be from the perspective of Dhananjoy’s wife as she speaks to an advocate who takes an interest in her past. “Who killed Hetal is not the focus of our film,” said Arindam.
Investor Relations