The Core That Drew Him In
When Abhinay Deo first heard about Brown, there was no cast attached — just a book and a loose script. But what hooked him immediately wasn’t the murder mystery plot. It was the deep dive into human nature. “At its core, it felt like a case study of people — individuals from different walks of life, social strata, castes, and communities,” he shares with Cinecrazy. “There is a Bihari, a Marwadi, a bhadralok Bengali, along with Anglo-Indians and Chinese characters. All of them coexist within Kolkata, and what fascinated me most was how the story explored human nature, the gradual decay of morality, and how people evolve over time.”
The filmmaker, known for Delhi Belly and Force, says the two central characters — Rita Brown, played by Karisma Kapoor, and Arjun, played by Surya Sharma — navigate not only the decay around them but their own inner demons. “Watching them emerge as stronger, more human characters was what excited me the most,” he adds.
Adapting the Book for the Screen
Deo admits that translating a 300-page novel into a visual medium required major reworking. “A book allows you to indulge deeply through words, but visual storytelling works very differently,” he explains. “Several aspects had to be altered or reimagined. Many characters are portrayed differently, and the storytelling approach has evolved significantly.” The best way to describe it, he says, is that the spine of the series comes from the book, but the body is entirely something they created. “When you read the book and watch the series, you may hardly recognise the two as the same story.”
Kolkata: More Than a Backdrop
One of Deo’s biggest fascinations was the city itself. “Kolkata becomes a character in the series — subtly, yet very powerfully,” he says. He wanted to move beyond the usual tourist imagery and explore lesser-seen corners like Chinatown and Bow Barracks. “Kolkata has so much to offer that you have to carefully choose what to show. I did not want to portray it through a tourist’s lens. I wanted to explore the real city, its people, its culture, and its hidden layers.” The director, who isn’t a native of Kolkata, admits it was challenging but consciously tried to capture the city’s true essence. “It’s one of the last cities that still retains such a strong sense of character and soul.” With Brown generating buzz, Deo is eager to see how audiences — especially Bengalis — respond to that portrayal.