Raj Chakraborty’s web debut with Abar Proloy has been the talk of the town for more than a month now, since it dropped its trailer. A full-on binge-watch show, Abar Proloy sees Special Crime Branch officer Animesh Dutta in a brand new avatar, which is more dabangg than the last time. While most are talking about Animesh Dutta and what an entertainer he is, actor Ritwick Chakraborty, who played the role of Shombhu Baba, did absolute justice to his character. We spoke to Chakraborty about his experience shooting for Abar Proloy and more.
Tell us something about your character.
Shombhu Baba is a negative character. I have played negative characters before but this character has a very specific diction. So that was very interesting to work on. It was shown that my character ended up in Sunderbans from Bangladesh when he was young, so you can notice a mix of both Bangladeshi and Sunderban dialects in my conversation. People have liked my character, and the way I have said “Shanti” people are greeting me the same way.
How was it working with Raj Chakraborty?
Raj Chakraborty is a complete director in the truest of the senses. Be it the story, or his directorial abilities, he has a very good team and leads them like a true captain of the ship. And the web show has all elements that you would be required in a blockbuster presentation…fight sequences, a superb application of Kalaripayattu, action, emotion, drama, everything. And the director of course has a role to play in this.
Which was your favourite scene?
On the first day of the shoot, that scene was shot where Animesh Dutta comes to the ashram and meets Shombhu Baba for the first time. It was a very crucial scene, and I had to show more or less all the traits of the character. As an actor, I also enjoyed shooting the last scene. For me, or any actor for that matter, each scene is crucial and each scene matters. There is nothing big or small as per the scenes are concerned.
Pushan Dasgupta played the role of your younger self. How did you manage the same dialect, same body language and such?
My younger self has a major chunk of screen space in the web show. When two actors are playing the younger and older selves of the same person, it requires a little bit of pre-planning and rehearsals between them so that they are not misfit to one another. And Pushan was so good on screen. But the credit also goes to the director who made the two characters look and feel similar, and there were no grounds for complaints.