Salman’s no less an actor than Irrfan: Prosenjit Chatterjee

In a career spanning three decades and some 340 films, Prosenjit Chatterjee is a name to reckon with in Bengali cinema. 2012 saw the actor foray into mainstream Hindi cinema for the second time with Dibakar Banerjee’s acclaimed political thriller, Shanghai – he’d starred in Veerta (1993) with Sunny Deol . When Dibakar was asked about his decision to cast a non-Bollywood actor,the director had said,“I needed a sexy lead actor.” That tag, even almost two years after the film’s release, hasn’t left PC, as he is popularly knownin Mumbai, he says.“In Mumbai, they now call me PC... whenever they talk about me, they say, ‘Oh, that sexy man’ – it’s almost become my nickname there,” he says.
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MAINSTREAM VS PARALLEL CINEMA The actor, in Bengal, is the possessor of two personalities – one, Prosenjit, the intellectual’s delight; and the other – Poshenjit, the masala hero of the masses. So what is this split personality that he’s the owner of? “It’s very simple. I’ve been working as a mainstream actor – making these masala films – for over 31 years now. There used to be a time for that sort of cinema – that time has changed. I have not changed yet. There used to be a difference between art films and commercial films earlier. Whether it is Mumbai or Kolkata – there used to be Shyam Benegal’s films, and then there were Shammi Kapoor’s films, too. In Kolkata, there was Rituparno Ghosh on the one hand, and Swapan Saha on the other. I think my plus point is that I have gone on with my time. I never stopped. Ritu da showed a different Prosenjit to the people; he is the father of this Prosenjit that people see these days. But then, I blended the commercial with good cinema. I tried to make films for the youth – for the people who watch films in multiplexes; who want to be entertained, but don’t want trash. Many young directors have entered the industry and we’ve now opened up a new market. I think what I’ve been able to do is add glamour to the other kind of cinema and make it commercial,” says Prosenjit.
SALMAN AND IRRFAN ARE EQUALLY GREAT “Earlier, when one worked in art films, one wasn’t paid much... People said that they were doing such films for arts’sake. But then, commercial cinema is also for arts’ sake! Salman Khan, for example, is no less an actor than Irrfan. Irrfan is a great actor, but so is Salman. Because Salman indulges in fights and maardaanga on screen doesn’t mean that he’s not a good actor. I have a lot of respect for him,” says the actor. But Salman is more a ‘hero’ than an actor. “I think this concept of the ‘hero’ in Indian cinema is related to age. I never wanted to go against my age. I always wanted that the best of my time, the best of my cinema come after I’m 45 years old! In Indian cinema, the concept of the ‘hero’ is a strong one. He’ll have to dance around, and you know, do what a stereotypical hero does. But I wanted the best of my career at 45-55, with different cinema,” replies Prosenjit.
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I DO ONLY TWO-THREE FILMS A YEAR NOW He’s in his 50s now – in the “best phase” of his career – so is that the reason he’s become so selective about his films? “Now I make three films a year at the most. With the kind of work I’ve been doing, I need at least two months to prepare before each film begins. I experiment with my looks, my physique... I need time for each film now,” he says.
In Jaatishwar, his latest release, Prosenjit has played the role of Anthony Phiringi, one that had been played in 1967 by Uttam Kumar, Bengal’s quintessential matinee idol. Is he nervous? “No... I’m not nervous. I’ve dedicated the film to Uttam Kumar – completely. An interesting fact is that my father (actor Biswajit Chatterjee) had also played this role. I have tried my hand at this role in a different manner, though – but then, this film is not on Anthony,” he says.