'Never had any compelling desire to do a Hindi movie'

Fourteen movies with Ray. Masterpieces by Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha. Collaboration with Oscar-winning German director Florian Gallenberger. If there���������s one word for Soumitra Chatterjee���������s careergraph, it���������s impressive. But there���������s one omission ��������� Soumitra has never done a Hindi film. Not just Hindi, he has never been part of any regional cinema but Bengali.
But to the veteran actor, who���������s been flooded with compliments from across the globe since Wednesday evening for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, such questions have little relevance. ���������Well, I have worked on national television. I have done a telefilm. But yes, I have never done a Hindi feature film. I never really had any compelling desire to do a Hindi movie. When I started acting, we used to have such great directors in Kolkata. Working with them and learning from them at every step were satisfying experiences,��������� he insists.
Satisfaction is one thing but wanting to explore a new territory that has also been tread by other stalwarts from Bengal, including Utpal Dutt, Uttam Kumar and Biswajit, is quite another. ���������Ektu boka chhilam. Artho uparjon korar jonnyo chhobi kortam na. I didn���������t really care much about choosing my projects in a way that would help me earn money,��������� he admits. But wasn���������t he offered a role by Shashi Kapoor in ���������Kalyug���������? ���������Yes, I was. But I didn���������t do it,��������� he says. Was it a health issue or date problems? ���������No, it was none of that. I didn���������t like the role.���������
Ask him about the Hindi industry making films on interesting subjects and he says, ���������That trend started some time back. They do make some interesting movies every now and then.���������
Since the hunger for good roles hasn���������t died down, doesn���������t he wish to venture there? After all, Suman Mukhopadhyay, who has directed him in the stage adaptation of King Lear, has expressed the desire of casting him as Polonius in his Hindi film adaptation of Hamlet. ���������I have great regard for Suman���������s work. It has been really fascinating to work in his adaptation of Raja Lear. I haven���������t had any serious discussions with him about his film adaptation of Hamlet. If it���������s Suman, I might be interested.���������
Remind him about how he had recently gone to watch a play by Naseeruddin Shah in Kolkata on a day when he had literally lost his voice and couldn���������t speak. There���������s a pause, and then he says, ���������Yes, I did watch his play. Anek bar or sathe katha hoy. He has often told me: ���������Dada, let���������s do something together���������. But it has never worked out. I am in Kolkata and he is in Mumbai. It���������s difficult to do stage together. Naseer amar bhishon bhokto. He is a great fan of mine and he had once told me that he came into acting because he had seen my performance...���������
It���������s amazing how he manages to stay grounded despite all the adulation, we say. ���������I respect and love my work. If I get swollen-headed, I will fail to keep belief in the fact that nothing can be more important to me than my work,��������� he says.
A rare innocence
Most of Soumitra���������s directors say that he has a child-like innocence that���������s rare in an actor who has worked with the best in the field. Having done so much, how does he retain this innocence and energy? ���������I don���������t really know how I do it. But I do understand that art is a space where there is so much to know. There is so much to be done and so little that has been done. That, I suppose, still excites me when I come across an interesting idea.���������
He also open up about the craft of acting and how he has evolved over the years. ���������The tricky thing about acting is that it is a very open-ended subject with no fixed yardsticks. If someone who has never acted in movies is asked about how we would fare in a film, he says he has never tried it. But ask the same person about playing an instrument he���������s never tried his hand at and he will say he has never learnt the craft of playing it. For acting, it is a matter of trial. For others, it is matter of learning the craft,��������� he explains.
So, how do youngsters today adapt or excel in such a fluid environment? ���������They have to look back and find out what they liked in the actors whose performances have inspired them. Every one has to find his own path.���������
Despite having done so much, there are times when he is referred to as a Ray prot������g������. Does he feel the true evaluation of his work gets shrouded because of this? ���������Ekhon ar hoy na. It used to bother me a little earlier but not anymore. These days, I don���������t dwell on such issues. I have done over 400 films. I don���������t sit on the judge���������s chair but leave the evaluation to my audience. There are people who have told me that my best work was in ���������Agrodani���������. There are others who think my best work is in ���������Koni���������. I have reached a stage where I am not into contesting which films my viewers choose as their favourites.���������
It���������s not easy to reach this stage of partial detachment. But then, here one is talking about Soumitra Chatterjee. He is someone who insists that the route to knowing him is not by watching his movies but by reading his poems. There are health concerns, but the crests and troughs of life are battled at regular intervals.
So, how does he manage to find sustenance? As a parting shot, he says, ���������You see, I have no other option but to keep my positivity intact. If I sulk and get despondent, I will be finished.���������