A week ago, Chandan Roy Sanyal, who was at the Venice Film Festival for the premiere of his film, Island City, was informed that filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta wanted to make a Bengali film with him titled Tope. “We did a Skype chat. I absolutely loved the narration. It's about a 35-year-old postman in a small village in Bengal, Purulia. It's a great script, something very different from what I do in Mumbai and working with Buddhadeb sir too is a big incentive,“ says Chandan.

His favourite Dasgupta film is Tahader Katha, which bagged his idol, Mithun Chakraborty, a National Award. Tope kicks off on October 7 with a 20-day schedule. “I am reading up on Indian news services and the postmen in particular as a part of my prep,“ says Chandan. It took him back to the letters he wrote to his uncle in Bahrain as a child. “All of us from the family would write in the same letter,“ he adds. Adding on his role as a postman, he says, “I loved Rajesh Khanna's role as a postman in Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein; the uniform, bicycle, bagful of letters, cap and all.“

Chandan has directed a short film after the critically acclaimed Hiroshima, titled 35 mm. It's a 25 minute film with five minutes of dialogue. “It's a love story between a director and an actress. We are into post-production now,“ he smiles.