having adapted tagores laboratory raja sen says he is now in talks with author samaresh mazumdar for his nextwhat was the most difficult part of adapting a short story of tagore that has also been adapted on stagei always had a certain weakness for the story i never saw it as difficulty when it came to making a cinematic adaptation i was exploring the various layers and shades of the tagore story since i had seen a stage adaptation i knew the minus points hence i was clear about what i should avoid in my movie so what did you consciously do that wasnt there on stagesince sohini is a girl from punjab i was conscious of casting a nonbengali actor for this part i didnt want any actor from kolkata to play this role that was one of the reasons for me casting raveena in this roledid you ever want anyone else to dub for raveenas portions especially for the portions where she played a widowfrankly and honestly speaking i did have the dilemma but then i decided to take a risk a punjabi lady will speak in a certain way even after she has lived in bengal for sometime i think raveenas voice justifies her presence in terms of the script was budget any problem for youi know that im making a regional film and i had to return the producers money i made the film in 60 lakh even on the first day of the movie my producer has already recovered the cost with the films us release and the sale of satellite rights the look that my film now can easily be passed on as that of a 1 crore production i got sponsorship for costumes and ornaments i got the locations with my personal connections i did more rehearsals than takes that saved the raw stock have you done a postmortem for your filmyes mine isnt a socalled popular film its been made for intelligent people im very satisfied with my project compliments have come my way a scientist sent me an email from abroad saying how happy she was with my movie im also very happy with arpitas performance she followed me like an obedient student and did a swell job with the characterisation from damu to laboratory ive never wanted to remake any of my films this is my ultimate standard im open to be accepted or rejected for having made this movie i knew my budget and chose my subject accordingly i didnt choose a movie where id have to shoot in italy or switzerlandwhy did you have raveena and arpita paint seminude picturesthere is an undercurrent of sexuality in both women sexuality isnt a taboo for either of them they have no prejudice about painting a seminude picturethere has been a controversy regarding the timing of sthaniya sambad to accommodate laboratory at nandan your takesince this is the 150th year of tagores birthday i thought people should get the opportunity to