First Indian film to be extensively shot in South Africa, its hero Deb said that he and other members of the movie unit spent 45 days shooting scenes like an encounter with a lion and climbing steep mountains with shots of horse riding thrown in good measure.
"During my shoot with the lion, I went closer than what director Kamaleswar Mukhopadhyay had wanted. And he reprimanded me on this count. Once I also fell from a horse and wounded myself," Deb told PTI
Talking about the director of "Meghe Dhaka Tara" fame Deb said, "Many filmmakers had in the past wished to put on celluloid this 1909-era novel, dwelling on the exploits of teenaged adventurer Shankar, but couldn't. With this knowledge I was really surprised when Kamaleswar approached me for the role."
Kamaleswar on his part said that Deb, an established star in Bengali films, was an automatic choice for him, though he was typecast in the commercial genre.