Indulge Kolkata turns 7: Surangana Bandyopadhyay believes in staying grounded and continuing to deliver good work

My goal has not been to really “create a niche”, I understand the world is all about creating a perception, given we are living in a virtual world that is constantly infiltrated by perceptions and “image creation.” I just try to do my job as genuinely as possible, and if it does end up resonating with even five people, that’s a lot for me. I just wish to better my craft and be as convincing as possible in any character that has been offered to me.

I am fortunate enough that Suman chose me for such a beautiful character. Moti is such a hugely talked about character in Bengali literature that it has its pressure, but I tried viewing it as just another character that I need to portray to the best of my abilities. I’m so happy that the scenes worked out, and I’ve been given a lot of love for the character.

As far as offers go, I do not create an expectation after any single performance. There are tons of great actors out there who, even after proving themselves several times, get zero work. Who am I to even expect anything there? I have just started my journey, so I do not believe in such optimism. I just focus on my work and the love I have for that work.

I feel fortunate to get the kind of work that I’m getting. It’s not easy to choose the kind of work that I would want to do for an actor who is not of a certain stature, given the size of our industry; therefore, I’m lucky to have been able to work on projects that I’ve liked personally, and I’m grateful to our audience for showering me with the love that they have.

I kind of consider singing to be a family heirloom. Both my parents are great singers, and my late grandfather was an extraordinary singer. Thus, even without any formal training, I used to sing constantly while growing up. On the contrary, I fell in love with the craft of acting much later in life. Since both of these came into my life at such varied timelines, I’ve never really considered choosing one over the other. But I’m fortunate enough that the two things that I do professionally are two things that I really enjoy doing.

We will be performing more shows of Hamlet. Apart from that, Swapnasandhani is working on new plays, which I will be a part of, be it onstage or backstage. Currently, Macbeth 2.0 is under production, we might revive Max in Kolkata, and we also plan to stage Hajar Churashir Maa.

There is Nikosh Chhaya season 2, which is currently being shot. Apart from that, there are talks of a film happening with Suman Ghosh.

I would definitely like to work with people I’ve already worked with, like Anirban Bhattacharya, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Anindya Chattopadhyay, and Suman Mukhopadhyay, but I also want to work with many other up-and-coming directors whose works I’ve really liked, particularly Riddhi Sen. I know for a fact he would make a fantastic director.