Tulsi Chakrabarty worked as a clown!

Why had Tulsi Chakrabarty pleaded with Ray not to pay him `100 per day for Parash Pathar? Bibhu Bhattacharjee has the answer to this and more....
When did you first meet Tulsi Chakrabarty?
I made my debut in 1951 for the film Morjada. Along with Uttam Kumar and Anoop Kumar, he too was part of the cast. While I was five years old then, he must have been in his 40s.Tulsida was very affectionate. I would get a car till Howrah everyday. He would patiently wait for me to give him a lift. I was so small that sometimes, I���������d even fall asleep on his lap while going home. When the car reached Howrah, he would say: ���������Eibar Bibhu ke dhoro. Ami toh eibar naambo���������.
How was the experience of shooting with him?
I cherish every moment that I have spent in his company. Though I used to call him Tulsida, he was like a father figure to me. I remember one incident with him while shooting for the film titled Bokul. Things were just not going right and we were well into the 17th take. But never for once did Tulsida complain. It was a scene where my character was supposed to be very violent. Ami bodhoe onake kamre achre diyechhilam. Kintu uni kichhu mone koren ni. Ekbaro birokto hon ni. In the film, Joydeb, he had a vital scene where he had to say the line: ���������Tumi cholo dadathakur, tomar bari puriye dewa hoyechhe���������. What a performance it was! Seeing him perform, Asit Baran had said: ���������Ei holo actor���������.
What are the qualities of his that touched you the most?
There were so many endearing qualities in him. I remember an incident when Chhabi Biswas was shooting a film with him. Chhabida never memorized his lines. One look at the script would be enough for him to give a right take. But with Tulsida around, it was a different scene altogether. After entering the floors, he asked who his co-star was. On being told that it was Tulsida, he immediately asked for the script to be sent to his room. ���������Script ta ekbar pathiye de. Ki jani ki pyanch Tulsi kosbe!��������� is what he had said. Once he was shooting at the East India Studio and he came up to me and asked if I would get a car or not. The reason for this was that he wouldn���������t get a car to return home and if I got one, he would hitch a ride from me. He would wait till hours on end for me to finish. From lunch till my pack-up time in the evening, he���������d sleep on the bench for me to finish work so that he could get a lift. ���������Gari ta hole bhalo hoto��������� was what he would say. Actually, he was paid so less that he wanted to save whatever money he could. He would usually take a tram from Tollygunge to Dharmatala. He travelled second class. That took one anna. Then, he would take another bus to Howrah. That would cost another anna. At the most, another anna would be required for him to reach home. Even those three annas, he wanted to save to make ends meet.
But why was such a great actor paid so less?
During those days, the production controllers tried to exploit actors a lot. When we began working, we were given our remuneration as soon as we finished work. I used to get `75 per day. That would be equivalent to earning `1,500 per day now. My brother would sign the voucher and, then, accept my remuneration. One day, Tulsida asked my brother how much I get. After hearing my remuneration, he said he would get only `15 per day. I still shudder to think what kind of a disparity that was!
Didn���������t he talk to you about his experience of doing Parash Pathar?
Yes, he did. He was sitting on a bench, wearing his trademark lungi when he first got the offer to do Parash Pathar. When the production
controller came and said that he had been cast, he started dancing and said: ���������Tomra shono... Eibar ami jate uthlam���������. During those days, Manikda used to stay in Lake Place. While discussing work, he also asked Tulsida if he knew about his remuneration. Ray wanted Tulsida to be paid `100 per day. But Tulsida refused to take that amount. Manikda ke uni bolechhilen je he shouldn���������t be given so much. ���������Film industry jodi jante pare ami 100 taka nichhi, tahole ami ar kaaj pabo na!���������
It���������s said that he had also explored various professions before he came to acting...
Yes, that���������s true. His father had a shop of spices. But for someone like Tulsida, selling spices across the counter couldn���������t satisfy his creative urge. He left that family business and joined a circus where he played a clown. But there too, he didn���������t gel well. So, he next migrated to playing an extra in a theatre. Sokhir dol e extra-r part peyechhilen jara rani r shonge thakbe. One sequence had Tarasundari Devi asking for wine and then, ordering her maids-in-waiting to dance. That day, one of the maids-in-waiting didn���������t turn up and Tulsida got his break to play a female actor. He was thrilled to be paid two annas for this role. But then, he was tense too. His first dialogue was supposed to be: ���������Rani rani sharab enechhi���������. He was given a gown to wear and once he entered the stage, he blurted out: ���������Sharab sharab, rani ma enechhi���������. Though the audience was humoured, Tarasundari Devi was livid with the faux pas and asked him to dance. But here too, Tulsida made a faux pas again. He sang: ���������Keno sul phukye gelo ke jane?��������� instead of ���������Keno phul sukiye gelo ke jane?��������� Tarasundari Devi was so livid that she asked him to leave the stage immediately. Who would have known Tulsida would later turn out to be such a great actor? He was fluent in Urdu and Farsi and could sing thumris and khayals too.
How humorous was he in his personal life?
Let me narrate an incident here. Once I had got stuck in a traffic jam near Howrah station. When my brother and I got off the car to find out the reason for the jam, we were shocked to see that the traffic had come to a standstill because Tulsida (wearing his lungi) had a chit stuck to his shirt saying: ���������Doya koriye chanda chaiya lojja diben na���������.
Ray had said that if Tulsi Chakrabarty was born in the US, he would have won an Oscar. Do you think he got his due?
Never. His house should have been turned into a museum. But what have we done for him? I am told that he had adopted a son whom he had willed away almost everything in his name. Of course, he didn���������t anticipate that this boy wouldn���������t care at all for his wife after his death. Tulsida was suffering from advanced gastric ulcer. A day before his death, he had had king prawns. That didn���������t go down well with his system and aggravated his gastric problems. He passed away the day after. Since the media wasn���������t too strong then, nothing really was highlighted about it. Within days of his death, his wife was shifted out of the second floor of the house to the ground floor. She almost had no money to support herself. What touched me was that Mithun Chakraborty was caring enough to send her `500 every month till she died. She had told me that he got her room whitewashed and had even bought a television set for her. As Bengalis, it���������s unpardonable that we didn���������t do enough in the memory of Tulsida. We have ignored Tulsida long enough. I think, he was the best comedian India has ever produced. Very few actors are there in the world who have mastered the art of subtle acting the way he had. He was the king of pause acting too. There was so much to him as an actor. But as students and followers of his acting, have we done enough? I think, it���������s time for all lovers of his cinema to introspect.