Kolkata:
Mamata Banerjee's journey from being a firebrand politician leading up to the Chief Minister's chair will be captured on celluloid by filmmaker Goutam Ghose.
Apart from chronicling the extraordinary tale of a simple middle class girl with a burning political ambition who unseated the 34-year-old Left Front government almost singlehandedly, the documentary would stress on the humane side of her personality, Ghose said.
"I will try to delve into the humane self of Mamata, the way she interacts with the masses, the way she conducts herself in the elite business circles and the way she pursues her interets at home like painting or Rabindrasangeet," Ghose said.
"Remember how she was derided once by the urban class who made fun of her English accent, her sartorial tastes and earthy image at cocktail circuits. I was very shocked at this and tried to protest. But now see how everybody is lapping up her every word," he added.
Ghose said he would discuss with Mamata how to film her life once things settle down after the swearing-in which would also feature in the documentary.
He said he was told by the legendary Bengali poet, late Subhas Mukhopadhyay, once a Left sympathiser, during a chat that the 'girl' had sincerity and a dream and was destined to rise.
The poet described her as 'Banglar Agnikanya' (Bengal's firebrand daughter).
Ghosh said he would take up the project amidst other pending projects.
Referring to his documentary on late Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu, Ghose said, "I think that was also part of my endeavour to capture an important phase of our country's political history of which Jyotibabu was an integral part".
"Not all he said about his party was very praiseworthy in tone and I do not know why I did not get the chance to have a public screening of the documentary at that time."
"The same Bengali channel, which has asked me to do a docu on Mamata, telecast the Basu documentary in full after his death and helped me reach the public."
About some footage on Mamata already shown on the same channel, Ghosh dubbed it as a "curtain-raiser which has been compiled by the channel's own creative team with Ghose only overseeing as an adviser."
"But the full documentary on Mamata will be my own work," he clarified.