The man who once refused the Best Actor Award for his performance in Goutam Ghose’s Dekha, but gracefully accepted the same award for Suman Ghose’s Padakhhep in 2008, was visibly happy with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2012. Other awards include the Padma Bhushan and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his contribution to theatre. He received the ‘Officier des Arts et Metiers’, the highest award for arts given by the French government, and a lifetime achievement award from Italy. The icon talks to Shoma A Chatterji about his interest in cinema, working with Satyajit Ray, theatre and other interests.
Why did you refuse the Best Actor Award for the role of the blind writer you portrayed in Dekha?
I felt awards often went to people who did not deserve them when other, better and more powerful performances were ignored. I felt that stars were awarded over genuine actors and I did not wish to be part of that scenario.
So why were you happy about the Dadasaheb Phalke Award?
I was happy because my faith in the public that has sustained me for so many years was vindicated. But I miss my mentor Satyajit Ray, my great teacher Tapan Sinha and all those who paved the way for me over these 55 years.
Tell us something about your theatrical experience.
My first play was Mukhosh, the Bengali adaptation of W.W.Jacob’s ‘The Monkey’s Paw’, which I directed while doing my Masters at Calcutta University. The play won the first prize at the Inter-University Drama Contest in Delhi in 1956. I met Ahindra Choudhury, a great name on the Bengali stage, who was invited to polish the work of the student actors. I requested the great lighting master late Tapas Sen to create and orchestrate the lighting for the play.
What about the other plays?
My next play was Bidehi adapted from Ibsen’s Ghost. But recognition came with Naamjibon and Calcutta. Neelkantha, written and directed by me in which I also played the title role, was first staged in 1988. When we revived the play several years later, it drew a full house every time. Other successful plays are Rajkumar, Tiktiki (Sleuth), Atmakatha (the Bengali adaptation of Mahesh Elkunchwar’s famous Marathi play) and Raja Lear, adapted from Shakespeare’s King Lear. Tiktiki had more than 125 shows, each one performed to a full house. We also staged an autobiographical play Tritiyo Onko Otoeb roughly translated as ‘The Third Act, therefore’. I was suffering from a terminal disease at the time and instead of writing about it, I chose to write a play that in the process, turned into my life story narrated by three different actors including me, each one a dimension of the same character – me. It was a selfreflexive commentary produced by Prachya. The disease is never named in the play but it is implied and understood.
What triggered the interest in theatre?
Acting would be more appropriate because I was also deeply influenced by films. The home environment was not against these things. My grandfather was the president of an amateur dramatic club and we grew up hearing his anecdotes. My father acted in plays produced by a similar group. He was brilliant at one other art –reciting poetry. As children, we would often put up our own ‘plays’ at home, based on small booklets that could be bought from the market. I recall having ‘staged’ Tagore’s Mukut at home, using bed sheets for curtains, the bed for the stage and getting help for props and costumes from my parents. We got a lot of encouragement from our parents. I loved the very feeling of acting. I found it fascinating.
Sisir Bhaduri, labelled Nata Samrat of Bengali classical theatre, made a deep impact on you. Can you elaborate?
It was my Sisir Bhaduri link that finally decided that I wanted to become an actor and nothing else. His theatre inspired me. As I watched him perform – his way of walking about on stage, creating a character, his unique style, I decided to become an actor. I had seen plays of the IPTA (Indian People’s Theatre Association) before seeing Bhaduri on stage. I also saw Bohuroopi plays. I watched Sisir Bhaduri perform in Srirangam’s Prafulla the night before Srirangam, his group, was closing down in 1956. My fundamentals in acting are from his plays. I consider him my guru.
When did you first find yourself drawn to films?
When I was very little, I watched films like ‘Thief of Baghdad’, ‘Saboo’, etc. As I grew into boyhood, I began to cut school to watch films. I also watched P.C.Barua’s films. Serious interest in cinema started with the first Film Festival in Calcutta after my parents shifted to Calcutta from Howrah. I watched ‘The Bicycle Thief’, ‘Miracle in Milan’, ‘Fall of Berlin’, with friends equally passionate about cinema. We saw Renoir’s ‘River’, shot entirely in India, after it was released. Then came Pather Panchali. Ray made four films before he did Apur Sansar. I now feel, for me, those films were a preparation for what was to come – my first film, Apur Sansar.
How did you land the role of Apu in Ray’s Apur Sansar?
A crew member from Ray’s team spotted me outside the Coffee House one day. They were scouting for someone to play Apu in Aparajita, the second in the Apu trilogy. Ray took one look at me and decided I was too tall for Apu. He had earmarked me for Apur Sansar. Later, he made me go through a camera test and a voice test to free me of camera consciousness. One day, when I dropped in on the sets of Jalsaghar, Ray introduced me to Chhabi Biswas who played the main role in the film. He introduced me as ‘my Apu for the third part of the trilogy.’ I was speechless. That is how I came to know that I was to play Apu in Apur Sansar.
Are there any differences between acting on stage and acting in films in front of a camera?
Acting in theatre is acting in real time. It is continuous, sequential, and chronological. The rehearsals for a play take care of the actor’s preparation for his role. The response too, is immediate. Cinema however, is not acting in real time. It is discontinuous, not sequential and not chronological either. There are no rehearsals for cinema. So, it is very important that the actor prepares for his role through discussions with the director, by reading and re-reading the script. Ray had given me a three-page sketch of his own conception of Apu as a character. This helped me in preparing for Apu.
Which films in recent times would you like to mention among your better ones?
Rituparno Ghosh’s Asookh, Aparna Sen’s Paromitaar Ek Din, Raja Sen’s Atmiyo Swajan and Gautam Ghose’s Dekha.
You are often seen acting in some terrible films. Why do you accept these assignments?
(Laughs loudly). Acting is my bread and butter and I have a big family to feed. I just cannot let go of assignments just because I feel they are going to be ‘bad’ films. Besides, how can an actor become judgemental about a film that is being shot when he does not know what the final product will look like? The quality of an average Bengali film has gone down, so my roles and the films I work in are a reflection of that quality. Sometimes, you feel this film is not going to be good at all and it turns out to be a pleasant surprise. Cinema is full of uncertainties and elements beyond anyone’s control, and an actor is just a small keg in that giant wheel.