Prosenjit on upcoming film Khawto: You get films like these only in Hollywood

National Award-winning actor and Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee needs no introduction. Starting off as the blue-eyed boy of Bengali cinema in the early 80s, he became a superstar with a string of commercial hits through the 80s and 90s, after which he fashioned himself as a metropolitan star, featuring in arthouse and middle-of-the-road films in the 2000s and so on. Today, Chatterjee is a stalwart of Bengali cinema and one of the finest actors in the country.

Ahead of the release of Khawto (July 22), his upcoming psychological thriller, Prosenjit speaks to IndiaToday.in about his role in the film, the state of Bengali cinema and his plans for future. Excerpts from the conversation:

After a long time, we are seeing you in a film that looks dangerous, dark, sexual, a bit disturbing and psychologically complex. What is your role like in Khawto?

I play the character of writer Nirbed Lahiri who writes dark, romantic thrillers and is popular across multiple generations. He is a dark character who does not believe in society and the system. At one point, he starts believing in and living the kind of lifestyle he writes about in his books, and well, such journeys are not proper and smooth, and there are twists and turns in his personal life. He has a dual personality, something akin to, say, a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Cinematically, anything like Khawto in Bengali cinema hasn't happened. Yes, you get such films in Hollywood, a few in Bombay. In Bengali literature, you get such stories in the works of Samaresh Basu and Buddhadeb Guha. In fact, Kamaleshwar (Mukherjee, the director) came to me with the script 7-8 years ago. But I asked him to wait till the audience became more accepting and willing to see something different.

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Are you saying that this is your most complex role so far and that you have never done something like this?

Without a doubt. I have done experimental roles earlier, but nothing like this. Moreover, for Nirbed Lahiri, I did not have any human reference around me to draw from. All my references were from films and novels. Nirbed Lahiri is a very, very honest man. There are only a few characters like that in Bengali films. Uttam (Kumar) jethu had done such roles in Nayak, Bagh Bandi Khela and Bicharak long ago.

You have worked with Srijit Mukherji, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and Kamaleshwar Mukherjee - three top directors of New Tollywood. How different is one director from another?

Everyone has their own way of telling stories. Srijit includes a lot of commercial elements into his films as he just does not make films for himself, he wants the audience to enjoy. Tony (Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury) is slick and sensitive in his storytelling. He plays with climate, weather and music in his films. Kamaleshwar has a very 'old director's element' - very detailed, a good researcher, and most importantly, a good actor himself, which helps us as actors on his set. Shiboprasad (Mukherjee, who directed Prosenjit in Praktan) makes films for the larger middle class Bengali audience. Everyone is good in their own way and people are appreciating and enjoying this diversity.

With the exception of Autograph, you have not worked with any first-time director recently. Why?

When Srijit did Autograph, he was new and not from the industry. Before that I have worked with 50 filmmakers who were newcomers - chief assistant directors within the industry. So, I stood by their debut projects.

After that, I did Subhadra Chowdhury's Clerk because it was a good concept and regardless of its commercial prospects, I felt it would be good cinema. The film did not work, it was not promoted well, it was ahead of its time, sure, but I liked it. So, if and when a newcomer gets me a script which is really good and I can fit into it somewhere, of course, I will do it.

Referring to a 2014 report by CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and market research firm IMRB that made many assertions including that 90% of Bengali films are flops in a year, what is the financial state of the Bengali film industry now?

We produce too many films in a year. If we make 100, 110 films a year, that is like eight films a month, which is two films a week. Now, not every film gets the right positioning during release. Only films with marquee actors, directors, star cast etc. get lucky to find the right release, and such films are few. With excessive digitisation, now, everyone is making films, which is good, but the makers think that they will quickly make films in digital and bag satellite rights but television channels buy satellite rights of notable films only. If we made fewer films a year, percentage of hits would be better.

Why is Bengali song-and-dance oriented commercial cinema still stuck with remakes?

In recent times, apart from my film Praktan, Bengali films that did really well across cities, villages and suburbs were Moner Manush, Mishawr Rawhoshyo, Chander Pahar, Feluda and Byomkesh films - all based on literary works with famous literary characters. So, such commercial films are being made and you'll see more such films in the near future. Meanwhile, Tamil and Telugu remakes have proven to be a good business model both in Bollywood and here. So, yes, they happen. End of the day, every 7-8 years, the audience craves for something new. So, this remake business is just another trend. It will be replaced by something else.

Recently, a professor from Ambedkar University criticised contemporary Bengali cinema, particularly Praktan, in an article in TheWire.in, comparing it to Sairat and saying that Bengali films "thrive on self-perpetuating, aphasiac forgetfulness, a total abhorrence for self-reflection and an incestuous cronyism that celebrates the co-minion's innocuous achievements." Comment.

See, if a person writes something online, that is his perspective and I as Prosenjit Chatterjee cannot comment on it. Everybody has their own concepts and thoughts and they put them up on social media, but that does not mean we are doing shit films and Marathi cinema is doing great. Along with Marathi films and Malayali films, Bengali cinema is also doing great. The audience is not stupid to rush to theatres and watch Praktan like mad. Everywhere I go today, people talk about Bengali cinema. I completely refuse to accept that Bengali filmmakers are not making good films. Contemporary Bengali films have an audience all over India and the world and full credit to our new wave of directors for that.

What did Bengali cinema lose with Rituparno Ghosh's death?

I won't say what I miss personally. He was a friend, philosopher and guide. We were in the same age group and I shared a lot with him. I think Ritu was very needed in the industry today. Rituparna (Sengupta) and I were made to feel by Ritu that we had something else within ourselves. Ritu could've given the new generation actors a much-needed push.

Your part in Dibakar Banerjee's Shanghai was really good. Any new Hindi films?

I recently completed shooting for a satire comedy called Three Dev with Kay Kay Menon, Tisca Chopra and Karan Singh Grover. It will release sometime around September-October. Last month, I completed a film with actor Neeraj Kabi, directed by Nirang Desai. Neeraj and I play the Pakistani and Indian army heads respectively and the film, set on the Indo-Pak border, is about the humane side of these two characters that comes out in the course of the film.

What's next for Prosenjit Chatterjee?

A Kakababu film, definitely. I am also planning to direct a film in Hindi in 2017-18. It will obviously have a flavour of Bangla.

( The writer tweets as @devarsighosh )