Shoojit shoots for Tony

First Paramabrata Chattopadhyay shot a music video for Srijit Mukherji’s “Baishey Srabon”.
Now, Shoojit Sircar is going to shoot two music videos for Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s (Tony) “Aparajita Tumi” starring Prosenjit, Padmapriya and Kamalinee. Says the “Yahaan” director, who turned producer for Aniruddha’s film, “Shantanu Moitra has composed wonderful songs and we have decided that I will be shooting two music videos for the movie.Shantanu is in London now and we will decide on the songs the moment he is back in India. We are also planning a music launch with a concert. Tentatively, the film should be released in January.”
Dad’s not the first choice
Prosenjit Chatterjee might be the badshah of Tollywood but in real life, his son, Trisanjit, doesn’t give him any marks as an actor. The six-year-old feels that Dev is the real chart-topper. His father? Only at the 10th position! “Trisanjit feels that his father comes way after Dev and Jeet, who are his favourite actors. He thinks only their films run housefull. He constantly imitates Salman Khan and his action from “Bodyguard”. He goes to play cricket near a south Kolkata cinema, where my recent films “Autograph”, “Moner Manush” and “Baishey Srabon” were being screened. There, he must have seen the housefull board or the queue in front of the ticket counter. So he came back home and said, “Baba, bhalo laglo dekhe, ajkal tomar film-o chole, housefull board lagano thake,” says Prosenjit, laughing.
Soham lays a phand
Soham might have a goodboy image in real life but the actor knows how to play pranks — that too silently. “While shooting for “Phande Poriya Boga Kande Re” Soumikda (Soumik Chatto padhaya ) used to bring loads of fruits and other goodies from home as he avoided outside food. While Soumikda used to be busy planning the shoot, me and D i p a n k a r, Soumikda’s assistant, would polish off his food. One day I offered him the juice he’d got. He looked blank and asked me, “Kothai peli tui juice?” I told him , ‘Bari theke baniye anlam nije’. He got so exasperated that he started keeping his food locked in a bag. But we managed to break the lock. After a while, a harried Soumikda told us, ‘Ke janish amar khabar kheye nichchhe protidin’. We couldn’t stop laughing and it was only then that he understood who the ‘thieves’ were. Next day, he came on the sets and said, ‘You people don’t have to steal my food from today as I have bought stuff for you too’,” S o h a m remembers.
Ritu’s chai garam
Rituparna Sengupta is superb on screen, but can she make tea? That’s the question Bangladeshi producers who came to meet her recently for a project would be asking. “The maids were taking an afternoon nap when they came to my house to sign the contract. I thought of making tea myself. Unfortunately, the jar next to the tea container had ajinomoto, not sugar! I mixed it well and served the tea. When they sipped it, I saw everyone looking zapped. ‘Do you need more sugar’, I asked. They said, ‘We’ve never had tea like this before’. After signing the agreement, they took dates for their movie and left. Later, my maid said, “Didi, cha dilen ki kore, chinir bottle toh dhoa hoechhilo.” Then I realized my mistake,” smiles Rituparna.
Mithun pulls a fast one
When Mithunda is on the sets, there’s something electric in the atmosphere. Director Raja Chanda, who worked with him in “Ley Halua Ley” recently, said, “Dada used to be on the sets at 7.45 am though the call time was 8 am. He always has a retinue of seven-eight people with him and his favourite pastime is to play them against each other and start a dispute. Once this is done, he just sits back and enjoys the scene with a blank face, as if he knows nothing. One day, I was chatting with his makeup artist, who is a yoga expert. He was showing me some asanas to help me keep fit. Dada (Mithun) was inside the makeup van. Suddenly, the makeup artist’s phone started buzzing with one call after another — all of them from different cities! All of them were asking for the ‘yoga guru’ and wanted tips on staying fit. The ‘guru’ himself was very irritated with the calls. It was only later that we realized who was playing the prank!” smiled Raja.
In search of
Buddhadeb Dasgupta has returned from Colombo and is now busy with the casting of his project on Tagore based on the Bard’s poems. “I have been breaking my head trying to get an actor with a dark complexion for Krishnakali. I might want to audition Parno. I liked her in Anjan Dutt’s “Ranjana Aami Ar Ashbona”. The film too has impressed me a lot,” says the director, whose retrospective will be held at the Gorky Sadan soon.