I felt that Samarpan Sengupta is trying to make a good film: Anjan Dutt on Pratyabartan
The actor, filmmaker and musician, Anjan Dutt, who celebrated his 74th birthday with a music concert in Kolkata, had three film releases last year- Ei Raat Tomar Amar, Shreeman Shreemati and Deri Hoye Geche is back againonscreen with Samarpan Sengupta's Pratyabartan, which hits the screens tomorrow (May 1). We had a long discussion with Anjan, who plays a retired schoolteacher in the film on his processes of acting and filmmaking. Excerpts:
You reunited with Roopa Ganguly for Pratyabartan after many years. How was the working experience this time? Was it any different from the previous experiences?
Nothing as such, more so because we don’t have a lot of scenes together. We play an elderly, married couple in Pratyabartan, but don’t share the screen together a lot. I have a small role in the film and play a school teacher. The story is mainly focused on Silajit (Majumder)’s character, his daughter and the adverse effects of mobile phones in young lives and interpesonal relationships.
Samarpan Sengupta is a comparatively newer and less popular director. Yet, what made you choose the film? Were you confident about the script or director?
I don’t choose a popular director, I choose a good script. I have never chosen popular directors. I have chosen good directors; I have tried to choose good directors, which is also a reason that I am very choosy about my projects, since I know that not all characters are made for me, nor will many of the makers be able to justify the process that I work in. I have a particular way of working. I need to like the script, I need to understand whether the role is suitable for me, and how much effort I will put into that character. I don’t act in films just for the sake of earning money. I have my other professions too. I try not to do films that I don’t like.
But have I not made mistakes? Did I not choose the wrong project ever? I have obviously. Once I say yes to a project, I can never blame anyone. Many times it has happened that I have been the wrong choice. While I have chosen the wrong “actors”, who can’t act but can just narrate the dialogues, I also got associated with the wrong films, I would say, which didn’t work. At times, I have been misused as well.
For Pratyabartan, I felt that Samarpan was trying to make a good film, so I said yes. But I haven’t watched the film, so I can’t comment on how the film has turned out. Usually, the films are shown to the actors, even I show my film to my actors, and I have been lucky enough to have directors before who have shown me films before the release, and asked for my opinion on the film. That trend is almost non-existent now.
When you read a script, which point of view is the strongest: An actor’s, a filmmaker’s or that of the audience?
I don’t see a film from the audience's point of view. I see a film from the work point of view. There have been many films that the audiences have liked, but I didn’t. So if Pratyabartan doesn’t work, yet it is a good film, I will stick to the film. Dutta vs Dutta didn’t even run at the theatres for a week, but I know it is a remarkable film. Some of the Byomkesh films have done really well at the box office, but are very bad films. Even Nirbaak didn’t work, but I am proud of the film, but for Uma, for which the audience has showered love like anything, I didn’t like the film. I didn’t even like myself. It seemed like I was acting in a jatra pala and not in a film. So even if the film runs for days at the theatres, I need to like that film.
In my last film, Ei Raat Tomar Amar, where Aparna Sen and I worked together with Parambrata as the director, despite knowing each other for a long time, we sat and discussed the film, prepped for it, and rehearsed for it. Although for Pratyabartan, nothing of that sort happened, during the shoot, I saw that Samarpan was trying to make a decent, believable film. I spoke with him about my character, his routine, his nuances, but sitting together with all the actors, and discussing the film, or doing a workshop, nothing of that sort happened.
But is that because the shooting schedule time has been reduced manifold?
I don’t think so. I think laziness, indiscipline and lack of cinema. The time is reduced because the budget is less; a film will only do well at the box office if it is great, and you have to practice. Nothing like that is happening. I have produced Chaalchitra Ekhon. While the shooting schedule was that of 12 days, we rehearsed for three months. Yes, actors might earn a little less, but for that, you can’t stop preparing yourself.
If one thinks that the time is too little to prepare and shoot, then one needs to plan accordingly and work towards it. Films like Kanchenjunga, Aranyer Din Ratri, have been made in under 15 days, because they knew their craft!
This film talks about going back to the roots. Do you also have any place like that where you would want to go back?
I live in my roots. I am connected to my roots, and this city is important to me.
Are you working on anything else currently?