In awe of an artiste

How he landed a job with a Sunday mag
The event, Aw e Anindya, started off with some wisecracks from who else but Anindya Chattopadhyay himself! “I have always known the phrase, aw e awjogor. So, I was in for a surprise when I heard the programme title,” he said. In conversation with writer-journalist Pracheta Gupta, he spoke about his early years. “I was introduced to Chandrabindoo very early.When I heard their band name, I was like, ‘They haven’t started out yet and there’s already a chandrabindoo!’.” Anindya spoke about how he landed a job with a Sunday magazine edited by Rituparno Ghosh. “When I joined I was told, ‘He’s Rituparno Ghosh, so he won’t come to office. But you must.’” Anindya also read out excerpts from his write-up on the director after his demise.

Meet the lyricist
Rahul, a big fan of Chandrabindoo, said he was elated to be a part of the programme. “I travelled to Dubai at a short notice of seven days to listen to them. I stopped my car and danced in Rajarhat when I heard Anindyada and Chandrilda were honoured with the National Film Awards for Best Lyrics (Antaheen),” said Rahul. The actor brought out an unknown side of Anindya when he said how the singer-songwriter started painting after falling in love. “Did you also write a song for your wife?” he asked. “Yes, I wanted to write Juju, but Chandril had already written it,” he said, tongue firmly in cheek. Incidentally, Anindya’s son is called Juju.

Making the mark as a director
One segment of the programme saw Riddhi Sen and Surangana Bandopadhyay interacting with their Open Tee Bioscope director. Surangana rendered her song from Uma, Aloshyo, while Riddhi strummed the guitar. Talking about how he draws inspiration to sing a song over and over again, Anindya said, “I always think of Raghab and how he does it.” Anindya, who sang Bola Baron, MBBS, Je Kota Din Tumi Chhile Pashe, had everyone joining in for Bondhu Chol. When asked how Chandrabindoo has managed to carry on for years, he said, “Bands part over ego issues; thankfully we never faced that. The other two problem zones are money and women — we didn’t have any.” Needless to say, everyone was in splits.

The showman who’s a winner all the way
Anindya, who spoke about his compatriots with a lot of love, added he wouldn’t have been a musician had he not heard Kabir Suman. “I was also influenced by The Beatles and Harry Belafonte. On stage, I am greatly influenced by Upal and Surojit. Upal came here to do the sound check at 7 am and that says it all,” he said. Reflecting on the years gone by, he laughed and added, “There have been occasions when people took our autographs thinking us to be Bhoomi members. Recently, I was praised for Srijit Mukherji’s film, Uma.” He added how his friends, Upal and Joy Sarkar are forever favourites with women.

A true compatriot
Anindya, who has composed for many films by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee, spoke about his association with the latter. “I used to do skits in college and Shibu, who was always drawn towards bad things, would come to watch those,” he recalled. Anindya said after Open Tee Bioscope, Shiboprosad called him and asked him to make films. “That’s how Projapoti Biskut and Monojder Adbhut Bari happened,” he added and rendered songs like Moner Guptochor, Jonaki and Haami. The show drew to a close with the song, Bondhu Tomaye, which he sang with his musician friends. His parting shot? “Apnarai toh chaw-e chawmatkar ghotiyechhen.”