The idea of Mohanagar came to me from police check posts

Ashfaque Nipun conceived the story of the web series Mohanagar five to six years back when he was still a bachelor. At the time, he was living in the capital's Mirpur DOHS. He had to face police check posts frequently while returning home at night. The police would permit him to pass through only after long interrogations. The same routine would continue almost every day. 

That's when the story came to his head. Recently released on OTT platform Hoichoi, the web series has already caused quite a stir.

 "One day after facing the police at a regular check post, I thought what would happen if people of different professions were detained on the same night? We are all afraid to go to the police station. However, the reaction to being detained at a police station during the day is different than at night," said Nipun while talking with The Business Standard.

"I based my story on this. I tried to imagine what would happen if people of different professions were detained at the police station at night," he added.

Nipun kept the idea of the story in his mind for a long time. In the meantime, he worked on other projects. Earlier this year, his web film Koshtoneer was released in Hoichoi. After the release, he was contacted again by the OTT platform and was told that they wanted to do a series with him. They asked him for a story.

"I don't want to make any conventional series in any way. So, I worked on the idea that I conceived 5-6 years ago. I finalised the story and sent it to Hoichoi. I also gave them two more stories. But I was confident about Mohanagar. Two or three days later they contacted me again and asked to develop the script," said Nipun.

"They also wanted to know about the possible casting. I told them about Mosharraf Karim for the role of OC Harun and they were excited. They said this was what also came to their mind."

The young director said, "Mosharraf Karim was yet to appear in any OTT platform. I sent the list of the whole cast including him to Hoichoi. They agreed. This is probably the beauty of Hoichoi or OTT platforms. They give directors complete freedom in casting."

Nipun contacted Mosharraf Karim who was then in India. The actor said he would talk about it in detail after returning to the country. Later, he came to the country and discussed the story with Nipun. At first, he said he did not want to act in the web series. But, later he told Nipun that he was joking and said, "I immediately decided to do the work after hearing the story. I wanted the character of OC Harun."

Mosharraf Karim and Zakia Bari Momo with director Ashfaque Nipun on the set of Mohanagar. Photo: Courtesy

The Mohanagar team started shooting last March. But where did the shooting take place? Nipun does not want to disclose that. He only said that it took place outside Dhaka. Since the story is the story of the night, Nipun wanted all the artists to always be on the set. As they were outside Dhaka, no artist returned home from the set. After shooting all night, they used to sleep on the set.

Nipun said, "We planned to start shooting in the evening amid the pandemic and then we would take a break for dinner and then shoot again. We planned to shoot till dawn and go to sleep after breakfast. We renovated an old building and did all the shooting there."

There was a rest house next to the building where the artists lived. Everyone went on a routine for 20 days. However, the exception to the routine was director Ashfaque Nipun. He and two of his fellow scriptwriters slept for only three hours per day. They used to get up from sleep quickly and develop the daily script.

"I do not work with a very specific format of work. I do not go to the set with a ready script. The same happened in the case of Mohanagar. I wrote the script and changed it every day during shooting. I had to think every day. Artists also became accustomed to this practice of mine," said Nipun.

Before concluding the interview, Ashfaque Nipun told about the incident of getting Mostafizur Nur Imran playing the role of Malay. He had not worked with him before. They had not even met. He only saw Imran's performance in the movie Eti Tomar Dhaka. But he decided to cast Imran for the character of Malay.

Nipun collected Imran's phone number and called him. Imran was then in Mumbai shooting for the film Bangabandhu. Somehow a message was sent to him that Ashfaque Nipun was looking for him. Imran sent a message letting him know the date of his return.

Shooting for Mohanagar started before Imran came back to the country. Imran joined the team straight from the airport later.

Nipun gives full credit to his team members for the success of Mohanagar. 

He said, "The whole team made the work possible. If the audience likes it, then the credit goes to the actors of my team. Because everyone owned the work."