Prosenjit Chatterjee on films, fresh challenges and why he might shave his head Dibakar can't do without his eyes, Rajib must have his Keora dialogues, and Srijit is giving him a ponytail. and Prosenjit Chatterjee? the tolly Badshah has just moved into a new zone as an actor
He's busy as a bee these days ' hopping cities, planning for his new releases, giving time to his production house. But Prosenjit Chatterjee still looks so fresh, so young, we tell him. 'Oh it's 'Bikram Singha'! The film has really made me work out,' he laughs. But there's more to it, we realize over a long chat. Here's a man who not only loves his work, but also the industry that's given him so much. 'There's only one colour in my life ' Tollywood,' he asserts. Excerpts:
You're in a film with Emraan Hashmi ' and the most-talked-about kissing scene has Prosenjit Chatterjee! (Laughs) It wasn't just Kalki in 'Shanghai', I also filmed a passionate lovemaking scene with Kamalinee for 'Aparajita Tumi' just after the 'Shanghai' schedule. So in the space of a few days I had to kiss two very, very young heroines. There was a lot of laughter on the sets about this and I would tell them, 'Tora ki amay Banglar Emraan Hashmi baniye chharbi!'
After so many years, shooting intimate scenes can't be a big deal for you... That's the best part about the years spent in the industry, that I can be so cool about it. Kamalinee was so tense before the shot. She was crying, didn't get much sleep the night before. The biggest thing for her was not the kiss, but the fact that it's Bumbada! And then before she knew it, the shot was done ' and she started crying in relief. Kalki, too, was so emotionally fraught while shooting the 'Shanghai' scene. It's never easy you know.
Two actors, who don't know each other and have to do a liplock that can stretch to 11-12 minutes. So between the takes I would go to her and say,
'Ekta biscuit khao, ektu Horlicks khao'. And why just them? I remember, Dolu (Raima) was just a kid when we were shooting for 'Chokher Bali'. There was a passionate lovemaking scene, where she's not wearing anything; here at least the heroines were wearing clothes. Dolu kandchhe, Ritu (
Rituparno Ghosh) tension korchhe ' it was crazy. So even while I was husband on screen, I literally handheld her through the shot. I dictated her every move, 'Now hold me tight, pull my hair, dig your nails into me, give me your lips...' See, even if I'm having sex with someone on screen, it has to be believable. It was much more difficult shooting the intimate scene with Paoli in 'Moner Manush'. There's no kiss, skin show, lovemaking ' but Paoli has to arouse a sadhu. And how beautifully Goutamda (Ghose) shot it! For me shooting such scenes is not a challenge, but sadhana.
Kalki ' much younger, less experienced ' has been part of some pathbreaking B'wood films. How was it working with her? Oh, it was wonderful! I'd seen her first in 'Dev.D'. After the shoot, I saw her 'Shaitan' and 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. And she's just brilliant in all the films. She's a very involved actor, whether it's rehearsals, workshops, mugging her lines. In Kolkata, I'm like a guardian and it's my responsibility to help out young actors. But here, in fact, Kalki helped me out. I have the maximum number of scenes with her and our biggest concern was that Hindi was not our mother tongue! But full credit to Dibakar (Banerjee) and his team for making it so easy. We would have workshops all day and Dibakar would join us in the evenings. We worked on our lines, our costumes ' I have a very different look here, wearing linen shirts and pants ' so by the time we went to shoot, we were all quite comfortable with each other.
Tell us more about Dr Ahmadi. Who is the man, what are his ideals? Dr Ahmadi is a socialist, but he's also got the traits of a great actor in him. He's not a six-foot hunk, but there's a magnetism about him. He's serious yet flamboyant. And like great actors, he can make people listen to him. Such is his pull that this girl (Kalki), who's almost given up on life, comes back from the brink and believes in life again. 'Fight', he tells her, and she trusts him. Then he goes out, raises that voice to a million people ' 'fight', he tells them ' and all of them are ready to put everything at stake for him. That's his charisma. He is a bit like
Amartya Sen. Of course, Amartya Sen is not involved in politics, but if he made a statement, people would sit up and notice. Dr Ahmadi too is very powerful and political parties take him very seriously. He stays abroad, but when he sees an issue that needs his involvement, he comes down to India and stands up for something.
Inspired by a real-life character? Lookwise, Shekhar Kapoor. The way he looked seven eight years back. That gentle smile, hair slightly greying at the temples, very relaxed, but also very confident. But in terms of characterization, we didn't have anyone in mind. For me, the template was that of a magnetic actor.
You're the biggest star in Bengal and have nothing left to prove here. What did Dibakar bring to the table that you said yes to a Hindi film after so many years? Over everything else, it was his passion that swung it for me. I kept on telling him, 'Why are you casting me? I can't add anything new to your film', and he would tell me, 'I will not get these eyes in Mumbai, I have conceived the role for you'. Dr Ahmadi has eyes that anyone can trust. Also, Dibakar wanted a fresh face, but someone who had that stardom and confidence. If you don't have that confidence in yourself, you can't make people believe you.
But the film must have presented you with fresh challenges... That it did of course! See, these days I don't work for money. The only criterion is I should enjoy my work ' and that the director should be able to draw something new out of me. Dibakar managed to get that extra bit. That's why 'Bikram Singha: The Lion is Back' for me is the biggest challenge for the past seven years. If I look 10 years younger today, then it's because of 'BS'. Now, when I play Kakababu, you will see my right arm growing thicker and stronger, because Kakababu is a physically challenged person and that's the arm he uses the most. That homework has already begun. I enjoy this sort of detailing the most now. You'll say, 'But Bumbada, you didn't do it five years back.' No, I didn't then, but now I want to do it. If they ask me to shave my head today for a good role, I will do it!
Weren't you worried about Hindi dialogues? One of the first things I was told was that there would be no dubbing, as the film was being shot in sync sound. Dubbing gives you the chance to get the modulation pitch perfect. Secondly, I have this speech ' it's almost 20 minutes long ' and Dibakar said he wanted to do that in one take. That was a huge challenge. But here, too, I did my homework. I had a teacher to finetune my diction and pronunciation. Dr Ahmadi is a professor, so the diction was very important. I made it very clear to Dibakar that if I finally said yes, I would work as per my schedule. I would work on the language, grow an actual beard. And he gave me that space and that time, nahole kortam na.
'Shanghai' is being touted as a political thriller. How different is it from other new-age films ' 'Baishey Srabon', 'Autograph' ' you've worked in recently? The movie is about development that you can see happening in every corner of India. Some people stand in the way and among them, a crucial person is murdered. That's where the thriller element comes in. There are loads of political thrillers made in India, but as I keep saying, they finally turn out to be some version of Ramayana or Mahabharata (laughs). It's very difficult to make a political thriller here. But ei chheleta, Dibakar Banerjee, has that guts! Shahosh achhe.
You are the biggest star in Tollywood. But here you play second fiddle to Emraan and Abhay Deol, both middle-rung heroes in Mumbai. It must have hurt your ego... But I accepted that as soon as I had signed on. The concept of the hero has changed. Think of 'Autograph'; it's been a game-changer for Bangla films. I have at least 40% fewer scenes than Indraneil, I didn't have songs, I didn't have a screen romance. But finally it was about Arun Chatterjee. In 'Baishey Srabon'. Param was the romantic hero. But Prabir Roy Chowdhury stood out, right? And when do you first see him? Just before the interval! A hero like
Aamir Khan never hogs screen space ' see '3 Idiots, 'Rang De Basanti'. The depth of the role is important. I am in that zone now, where I don't care about the industry's perceptions. What's important is what I want from myself and for my audience.
More Hindi films now? Why not? If I'm offered interesting roles, interesting characters, like Prabir or Mahendra ('Chokher Bali') in Hindi. In fact, Dibakar has said somewhere that all that Prosenjit has done so far is a trailer, he has just started his career. See what he can do in another 10 years. Here, young directors like Srijit tell me, 'Tomar toh ekhon jonmo hoyechhe. Onek kichhu dewar achhe. Amader shudhu nitey hobe.' And I'm enjoying all of this.
Unless we make national films in in Kolkata, we won't move ahead. I don't think we can't make Hindi films here. Films like 'Baishey Srabon', 'Bhooter Bhobisyot' have it all ' the look, the knowhow, the background score. See what Shoojit Sircar has done in 'Vicky Donor' ' such a small-budget film, but so brilliant. It's the same thing that was done in the south in the Sixties. If one film was a hit, they would fly down big heroes from Mumbai for remakes. Why didn't we think of remaking 'Saptapadi' with Uttam and Suchitra in Hindi? What stopped us? Sujoy toh kore dekhiye dilo. And I'm telling you, in another year, we'll have more such films. And I'll be involved in all of them; that's a personal challenge.
What's the 'Bikram Singha' challenge? Trust me, the amount of work and time I've put into this, had I done a few events in less that time, I would have earned more. But as I told you, it's not about money. I would keep getting fan mail, letters with one plea ' keora Prosenjit ke keno dekhte pachchhi na. So I thought I must give that mass audience something back. I was just waiting for the right subject and 'Bikram Singha' gave me that.
Another thing I truly believe in is that I want to follow my seniors and see how they've moulded their careers at crucial points. Take Amitabh Bachchan: he was the angry young man, but then young directors got something special out of him. See how he danced with Abhishek and Aishwarya in 'Kajra re'. This, at a time when Abhishek and Ash were having their romance. But he has the confidence to go on screen and line maaro his future daughterin-law ' and the audience was whistling to that. Can you imagine what a big challenge that was? And that serves as an inspiration. 'Autograph', 'Moner Manush', 'Baishey Srabon' ' all huge hits. What went wrong with 'Aparajita Tumi'?
I think the silence didn't work. The audience had last seen me in 'BS', which had some smashing dialogues. 'AT', in contrast, was something like a letdown for them. That's not to say the movie was bad. I had a fantastic role and Tony (Aniruddha) handled it brilliantly. But it did not resonate with the audience, which had perhaps expected a different Prosenjit. Also, I think the music, though good, was not up to the standards of Tony's other films.
So many of your contemporaries ' Satabdi Roy, Tapas Paul, Debasree Roy ' are in politics. Don't political parties approach you? Oh yes, they have ' so many times. And I go when they call me, touch their feet, attend their meeting and leave. At the end of the day, amake toh amar bou bachcha ke acting kore khawate hoy! No one will give me the support and tell me I don't have to think of my family. And anyway, I don't understand politics. To do that, I have to work with and for the common people, be involved in social causes. If I can do that for 10-15 years and people feel that they need me to represent them, then maybe I'll join politics. But I'll travel in an AC car, drink the best whisky and say I'm with the common people, I don't believe in that worldview. I want to entertain people. I have no political colour. There's just one colour in my life ' the Tollygunge studio. I see only two pages in the newspapers, sports and cinema.
What about the film you and Arpita are supposed to make? Her career is poised at a very interesting stage. She is making some of the top ads in the country. But when she wanted to come back to films, I had shifted into a different lane altogether. And she realizes that now. To work with me, it has to be a hatke role. I can't play around with my career so that I can work in a film with my wife. Then Prosenjit becomes like any other actor. If I get a project, where having Arpita will take the film forward by a margin, only then will I say yes. There are no such films now. Plus, Arpita is such a good actor that it would help her as well if she is not overshadowed by me in a film. I'm just too big. I don't remember an occasion when I've hugged her after she's got an award, she would seek my blessings. That's the difference, it's a guru-sishya equation.
Finally, Kakababu... Till the end of the month, I'm with Dr Ahmadi and Bikram Singha. Once that's done I'll shift to Kakababu. We'll do something completely different with him, give him a ponytail ' basically, he will be like Indiana Jones. This is the sort of character I've never played before. It was another gap in my career, another piece of the jigsaw I had to fill up. Brand ta ke jomiye debo.... It's a promise.
