Saswata Chatterjee on Kaantaye Kaantaye: It was important for me to forget Uttam Kumar's image as advocate P.K. Basu

Q. Your last two Bengali works belong to two different genres, Kaantaye Kaantaye and Eta Amader Golpo! Is it a conscious approach from your side?

A. Yes, they are varied. Kalki 2898 AD has also been there in the middle. I think I am lucky enough to be roped in for diverse roles. The diversity is even more visible because they have released in a quick succession.

Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS

Q. What specifically inspired you to work on Kaantaye Kaantaye?

A. Content. I don't sign any projects if the storyline doesn't appeal to me. I am an audience first. I read a script as an audience so I don't agree to a project if the storyline doesn't touch me emotionally. I loved the storyline. All characters, which are equally interesting, become suspicious at one point or the other in the plot. It is very interesting.

Q. Uttam Kumar had essayed advocate P.K. Basu in Jadi Jantem. Did you try to liberate yourself from Uttam Kumar's influence?

A. I have watched Jadi Jantem multiple times because I am a massive fan of Uttam Kumar. It was important for me to forget Uttam Kumar's image as advocate P.K. Basu because he had a massive influence on people's minds with his supreme screen presence. Only a few actors have such a kind of influence on the audience's mind. So I had to come out of that influence and play advocate P.K. Basu. It was a challenge for me.

Q. Do you think Bengali OTT is able to explore a wide range of subjects now?

A. Yes, the makers can experiment with a lot of subjects on OTT because the platform has no censor board. There is no boundary in OTT. In films, one has to keep in mind the box office collections so liberation is far less as compared to OTT, which has emerged as a positive space for the audience.

Q. Kalki 2898 AD is a huge success and you are an integral part of it. How does it feel?

A. Kalki 2898 AD was originally shot in Telugu and then it was dubbed in other languages including Hindi. My biggest challenge was to deliver my lines and dub them in Telugu because I had no knowledge of the language. Adding to that, it was a huge task to live up to the scale of the film. My costume weighed about 3-4 kgs! I had to deliver my lines and do action sequences while putting on that heavy costume. I still wonder how I pulled it off. (laughs)

Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS

Q. How was your experience working with Nag Ashwin?

A. Nag Ashwin is a very soft-spoken person. He is so down to earth and subdued that it is tough for anyone, who doesn't know Nag Ashwin, to identify him as the director on a shooting floor. He managed so many superstars in the same film with such calmness. This can only happen when a director is crystal clear about his ideas and vision towards his/her film. We actors just followed Nag Ashwin's vision with the props, costume and the set that were available to us.

(Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)