‘My father is a chauffeur’

What has Chaturanga done to your career?
It has made me a more respected actor than before. For the first time I���ve realised how much people have started expecting from me.
Having dabbled in Hindi, Bengali and even Bhojpuri films, how do you carve your own identity?
I���m versatile by choice. I���ve loved doing a semi-commercial film like Madholal Keep Walking that has me playing a lower middle-class character, who has to come to terms with life before and after the Mumbai train blasts.Simultaneously, I���ve also done Saptasur in Bengali and the Bhojpuri film Pistol ��� Ek Prem Kahani. Such diametrically opposite films helped me in being an actor, who can stretch his creative limits. In the pipeline are Bagha Jatin and Shooter.
Being an NSD pass-out, an actor who has worked with Gulzar saab, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Ketan Mehta, what made you choose certain films which have also left people squirming in their seats?
I���m sure I didn���t feel that they���d turn this way when I had signed them. When I did Jor with Swapan Saha, I found he was extremely professional and was doing everything to ensure that he had a film for the masses. But in certain other cases, I had just heard about my part and not seen how justifiable is it in terms of the whole script. Henceforth, I���ve to be careful about the quality of productions I choose. I���ll read the whole script, figure out whether I can communicate with the director and ensure if the film is doing justice to my talent before doing a film.
How important is it for you to feel the adulation of people and see your face on magazine covers?
It���s important, though I���ve miles to go before I sleep. In films, I���ve only done 10 per cent of the work that I���ve done in theatre. When I was at NSD, I didn���t speak Bengali for two years so that I could master Hindi. I���d wake up at four in the morning, so that I could practise my Hindi. Mukhher moddhye pencil dhukhiye Hindi bola practise korechhi. If I can make it till here, any underdog can establish himself. Forget graduation, I���m the first person to clear the Class X Boards from my family. My father is a chauffeur and we still live in a rented house in Mumbai. I remember having to even wash the cup in which I was offered tea in a Brahmin���s house. I was too young to understand the class differences and only wished I could have been a Brahmin so that I wouldn���t be differentiated against. On a subconscious level, this deprivation might have fuelled my urge to prove myself in the long run.
Often when you are trying to get recognition, you lose touch with your family life. How do you guard yourself against that?
I come from an extremely humble background. I used to be known as Boro Bhai at a crematorium in Bankura since I could accurately calculate how much of wood would be required to cremate a body. I���ve done jatra and have been trained in Rabindra Nritya. Learning to paint came naturally because I come from the land of Jamini Roy and Ramkinkar Baij. I���ve studied in London with a scholarship and also spent four days at the Louvre. Today, I���m a self-made man and also remain a very fluid person. That applies to my professional and personal lives. When I���m shooting, I get an AC accommodation and a car. In my personal capacity, I still live in a rented house in Mumbai.
Despite being Subrata, why do you insist on being called Subrat?
When I joined NSD, people couldn���t pronounce my name correctly. Everyone started calling me Subrat and soon that spelling stuck to my scholarship too. And today, it���s not numerology but a matter of convenience that has made me stick to this moniker.
How difficult is living in Mumbai post the terror attack?
There is a fatalistic approach. Every conversation finally leads to a discussion on our fragile existence. I���ve never seen such a scared Mumbai before.