Rituparno Ghosh brought us from commercial cinema to a realistic zone: Rituparna

They are to Bengali cinema what cinema is to Bengal. No wonder, after a hiatus of 14 long years, when Prosenjit Chatterjee and Rituparna Sengupta — the hit pair of 46 films — made a comeback with Praktan, the euphoria surrounding them was just the same. Ahead of the release of their much-talked about Drishtikone, we took them back to NT1 Studio in Tollygunge, which was once home to the actors.Maybe it was the location, but the actors lowered their guard and let us in on the life that was. We listened in…
You have many memories of shooting in NT1…
Prosenjit: There was a time when I would sit at Tarakda’s teashop right outside the studio. Most of the directors had their offices here and there would be gaps in between meetings. But I didn’t have the money to return home and get to the studio again; so I would while away my time at the teashop. Tarakda would share his food with me. He used to tell me, ‘When you become a star and buy an AC car, take me out on a ride’. When I bought a car, he was the first one I took out. Later, when I did become a hero, his boys would keep my tea ready every morning. I would also have bread and omelette at the studio canteen. Be it actors or directors, everyone would have breakfast together before heading for the day’s shoot. They used to serve food in banana leaves. There was a time when I didn’t return home for nine days straight. I used to either rest in a small makeup room or wrap myself in a shawl and sleep in my car.
Rituparna: The first time I came to the studio was to meet Prabhat Roy. It was for Swet Pathorer Thala. It was a great feeling seeing him at the desk, marking things with a sketch pen.
There was a time when Prosenjit had stopped working for a year or so after his breakup with Debasree Roy. The comeback film was shot in this studio and starred Rituparna…
R: It was Swapan Saha’s Abujh Mon. Before that, we had worked in Nagpanchami, but that was a multistarrer. In Abujh Mon, Abhishek Chatterjee played my lover and the film was about us, while he essayed the role of my husband. But our jodi took off after this film.
P: In Nagpanchami, our first film together, we had a wedding night scene, but I didn’t know who the new girl was. Mithunda (Chakraborty), who was shooting in the same studio, saw her and said, ‘Good height, huh?’ When I came back one-and-a-half years later with Abujh Mon, I signed nine films in a day. Every director was waiting, be it Swapan Saha, Sujit Guha, Anup Sengupta or Haranath Chakraborty. I was depressed but they inspired me to come back.
What was it like shooting back then?
P: There used to be massive sets; now there’s no budget for it. Goutam Bose used to create huge sets and I would ask him to adjust them in such a way that I could shoot films simultaneously. There was a time when both Tapas (Paul) and I would be referred to as the golden jubilee heroes. Despite the stardom, we would share a makeup room. But the spring bed was in a bad shape and would hurt us. We were working day and night and needed sleep. Both of us used to sleep on the bed alternately. So, one day, when Ashit babu, the proprietor, was entering the studio at 3 pm, both of us — wearing just the underthings — pretended to be asleep on a mat. He was curious and asked why we were in such a state. Then someone told him about our plight and a new bed was brought the next morning. Six of our films would be edited at the same time and we always wanted to know why some scenes were chopped off.