Aparna Sen and Anjan Dutt in Ei Raat Tomar Amaar
Aparna Sen and Anjan Dutt in Ei Raat Tomar Amaar

Aparna Sen and Anjan Dutt on their love for cinema ahead of their film, Ei Raat Tomar Amaar's release

Aparna and Anjan, both veteran actors and filmmakers, tell us why they chose to act together for Parambrata Chattopadhyay's film Ei Raat Tomar Amaar
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They both are veteran actors and filmmakers, who have captured the imagination of the Bengali audience and made them think with their work. And now, for the first time, they have been cast as a couple by Parambrata Chattopadhyay in his upcoming film Ei Raat Tomar Amaar that’s releasing next week. We are talking about Aparna Sen and Anjan Dutt, who will be seen as a couple on screen revisiting their companionship on the night of their 50th marriage anniversary. We speak with Sen and Dutt about the movie and what ails the Bengali film industry.

Q

Tell us what drew you to the movie?

A

Aparna: I’m not really into acting anymore. Without denigrating mainstream films that brought me to where I am today, I must say I don’t enjoy doing films that I don’t find meaningful and where I don’t find dialogues, action and mis en scene isn’t something I can’t believe in. To be honest, I didn’t even enjoy acting in Iti Mrinalini at all but this film I enjoyed doing as an actor. In acting there is an immediacy, a spontaneity about the whole thing even if we have prepared or rehearsed and discussed script at length in workshops. I’m comfortable with that kind of acting and it’s possible for me to do that with only very few people and I find I can do that with Anjan. It was going to be shot in 10 days and Anjan and I had to carry it on our shoulders, so that was the reason why I agreed.

Anjan: There were many things that drew me to this movie, one being Aparna Sen. She is a true actor’s director in the country where there is a lack of people who truly understand the craft of filmmaking and push actors in the correct direction. Aparna is one of them. There’s mutual trust, respect and friendship between us, which comes from a certain common background of watching the same kind of cinema or having the same values. It leads to a difference in acting to a great extent.

I believe that acting is a very serious and interesting profession. If the script and director aren’t convincing there’s no point wasting my energy on that. It’s not about saying dialogues or emoting but being the character.

Aparna Sen in Ei Raat Tomar Amaar
Aparna Sen in Ei Raat Tomar Amaar
Q

What do you feel is ailing the Bengali film industry that saw such glorious times when you all started off?

A

Aparna: I feel the market is very small and it’s our failure that we haven't been able to reach out and capture the Bengali diaspora which is huge. We haven’t been able to tap the right audience. Also, the directors get paid so little for making a film that they have to keep churning out many films in a year to run their hearth, which leads to a fall in quality. They don’t have the luxury to write a proper script, which is the backbone of a film, take a couple of months and come back to it to detect loose ends and tie them up. The due time to develop a good script is not given, forget the time to make the film itself.

Even the UK film industry faced the same problem and couldn’t compete with Hollywood, so they went into television and hardly made films. But both our television content and OTT series are so qualitatively low.

Anjan: I agree with what Aparna feels. Any dynamic industry like cinema or fashion is always focussed on an intelligent urban audience and if we continue to cater to a very mediocre and regressive audience and not look for a bigger market, obviously the quality will fall. We have to reach out to the right people.

Aparna: Also, we must have creative producers with vision enough to create new audiences. We are constantly giving the audience safe stuff without taking any risks. But whenever something novel happens, the audience laps it up, since they are tired of watching the same thing.

Aparna Sen in Ei Raat Tomar Amaar
Aparna Sen in Ei Raat Tomar Amaar
Q

What’s something that you have watched recently?

A

Aparna: I watched About Love by Archana Atul Phadke and was fascinated by it.

Q

In this bleak context of box office performances of Bengali films, how hopeful are you about your own releases?

Aparna Sen and Anjan Dutt in Ei Raat Tomar Amaar
Aparna Sen and Anjan Dutt in Ei Raat Tomar Amaar
A

Anjan: If I’m convinced that the film is good and would be liked by people who want to watch something new, good, slightly intelligent, and different, then I am always happy to be a part of it and I am sure that would work if correctly placed in correct halls. I don’t know if it’s going to work but I believe it’s good and my belief is important since I feel apart from films like Pushpa or Bahubali, this country also has space for a lot of other works.

Aparna Sen and Anjan Dutt
Aparna Sen and Anjan DuttPicture: Sourav Banerjee

Aparna: When I decided that I was going to opt for a life in arts, I knew there would be constant peaks of heartbreaks and elations along the way and I prepared myself for the same. Although cinema consumes me, I tell myself that there’s also life beyond it and everything doesn’t stop if one film of mine didn’t get an award or go to a festival. Why should we forget the fun and reward we get while making films? I think that’s reward enough.

Q

How was it working with Parambrata as a filmmaker?

A

Anjan: He is a sensible person and is somebody who didn’t force me to act badly.

Aparna: He gave us the space since he knew that he was dealing with two veteran actors. He let us be ourselves and would gently nudge us back if we, at times, went out of track.