Srijit should say no to acting

Even if success is known to add a new spin to friendship, he has managed to handle both. Reason? He doesn���������t incite trouble. Prosenjit Chatterjee on new-age cinema and their makers in Tollywood
Almost anything about movies down south is now national news. Why does Tollywood retain its regional-only stamp?
Movies are an obsession down south. In Tollywood, movies are an art form and fodder for occasional entertainment.Since the ���������60s, southern stars have forged a relationship with the national industry. Producers insisted on remakes of their movies. Bengal never took that path. Even Hindi movies by our masters were never marketed well. Unlike the south, we don���������t have a chamber. People are still working as individuals. I have tried to get FICCI. Success of Bengali cinema has to be shared. Here, we haven���������t yet been able to get Aparna Sen, Goutam Ghose, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Rituparno Ghosh on the same platform. However, the eternal optimist in me keeps me going. There is no dearth of talent here but I am not too sure if we are using them properly.
Is there unity among Tollywood���������s new brigade?
They seem to be united now. But from my past experiences, I am not too sure how success will change equations. Success tests unity and gives a new spin to professionalism and friendship.
What are your views on experimentations happening in new-age Bengali cinema?
If experimental works of big painters sell, experimental cinema can���������t be any different. It should either have buyers in India or have a market internationally. Buddhadeb Dasgupta has always had an international market even if his movies didn���������t sell here. Don���������t blame producers here for movies not working. The Kolkata audience can understand when popular international techniques are copied and peddled as Bengal���������s experimental work.
Camera kapiye kapiye shot nilei world cinema toh hoyna. Cinema has to have a soul and offer a takeaway. There is nothing wrong if movies make a person emotional. Cult Bengali movies have had mainstream elements. Don���������t tears well up when we hear ���������Dada, ami banchte chai��������� from ���������Meghe Dhaka Tara���������? Isn���������t the way Mithunda walked like a tiger in ���������Mrigaya��������� a gesture of heroism? Isn���������t ���������Goopi Gyne Bagha Byne��������� a mainstream movie? Yet, nobody labels them as mainstream. Great masters used regular motifs to create a new cinematic idiom. That���������s experimental for me.
New-age Bengali cinema often looks similar and explores similar relationship problems...
Yes, there is similarity in terms of looks and set design. We need to adopt Ray���������s concept of production design that���������s not to be confused with art direction. Technicians need to have a good understanding of the subject. Look at how differently Samik Halder has filmed ���������Autograph��������� and ���������Noukadubi���������...
How do you assess Tolly���������s new directors?
Shiboprasad is a good storyteller who shouldn���������t do a remake. ���������Hello Memsaheb��������� is not his cup of tea. Mainak and Birsa have good visual sense but they should focus more on storytelling. Raj Chakrabarty punches mainstream and reality cinema well. I���������d want to watch original movies from Raj. Kamaleswar Mukherjee is good with his script but needs to prioritize what he wants. Srijit shouldn���������t act. He is a good actor but if he needs to earn money, he can anchor shows instead. Srijit has been extracting great performances from senior actors like us. If he can���������t reach the same levels of performance as an actor himself, it will not be good for him.
Was it difficult to say no to Srijit���������s third movie?
Oh! Yes. He didn���������t speak to me for 15 days. But he is intelligent and slowly understood why I had to say no.
Is Srijit���������s success earning him a lot of enemies?
Every success story, including mine, has rivalry or jealousy written in the fineprint. I tell Srijit that he is very controversial in a positive way. Rituparno too has been controversial. He made Bollywood stars come down to Kolkata and do his films. People raised eyebrows but his films worked. Wagging tongues are not important; the longevity of the works is.
Have you been inspired by Mamata Banerjee for your role in Dibakar Banerjee���������s ���������Shanghai���������?
The basic standpoint of my character is close to what Mamata Banerjee had once said about foreign investment. However, I���������ve not copied her mannerisms.
Your reactions to Arpita���������s stage debut in ���������Notir Puja���������...
I was tense before her show, but her performance blew me away. The praise for her stage performance is as good as getting a box office hit. Kaushik Sen was the finest teacher she could have got. Arpita is a very good actor, singer and dancer, but there isn���������t a proper hero to be cast opposite her. She is in a different acting zone now. Dolu (Raima) and Arpita are in the same age group. The only heroes who can be paired opposite her are Jisshu, Parambrata, Indraneil and Abir.
You were supposed to do ���������Ananda Math��������� together. What is it about Goutam Ghose���������s script that made you feel that this is the one?
The director of ���������AM��������� is good but new. The producer backed out perhaps because he didn���������t want to invest what was required to make this period piece. Goutamda���������s movie has an ensemble cast and the script is amazing. There is a middleaged couple. While I play a character, Arpita plays a firebrand journalist of an English daily.
How do you manage to be friendly as well as professional with members in the industry who might be at loggerheads? Like, how do you balance a Shrikant Mohta with an Ashok Dhanuka, or an Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury with a Gaurav Pandey?
Shrikant and Srijit came down to me on the sets of Ashok Dhanuka���������s production. All these people know me as a person and they know that I don���������t incite trouble. Tumi heshe katha bolle ami heshe katha bolbo. Tumi bhuru tule takao, amio bhuru tulei takabo! That���������s my policy in life.