How a lot stress do you’re feeling being hailed because the NEW Uttam-Suchitra of Bengali cinema?
Rituparna Sengupta: They’re the gods of Bengali cinema, and we worship them. Each time it’s stated that we’re the subsequent names after them, I really feel very proud. I feel that now we have accomplished an excellent job, however on the identical time, I really feel they’re legends. We can’t contact them. However being in contrast offers us validation that possibly all people loves us a lot that they’re making this comparability. Prosenjit Chatterjee: To start with, Uttam and Suchitra are legends and they’re like our masters. The viewers typically compares us as a result of Ritu and I’ve accomplished plenty of work and folks have liked us for years. However we’re not even near what Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen had been.
Ajogyo is the fiftieth movie the place you each will likely be seen collectively…
Prosenjit: It’s been a protracted journey with many ups and downs. Our business movies have labored properly and our friendship and bonding as actors have translated on display. We began attending to know one another higher, and there was a time after we didn’t work collectively for round 14 years. This chemistry is difficult to explain as a result of I consider it has been created and accepted by the audiences and the filmmakers who had religion in us. We’ve got additionally developed as actors. We’re now not the hero and heroine we was once. However after we come onscreen with a sure aura or maturity, due to our director and author, the viewers likes it and desires to see us collectively. Our friendship, bonding, and professionalism are very excessive. We’re excellent buddies, there’s little doubt about it.
Rituparna: I don’t know if we’re buddies or not, however there’s a sure power that works after we come on display. That power is infectious and onerous to explain—it simply occurs. There’s magic. The great thing about our bond and pair lies in our professionalism, and naturally, we respect one another lots.
How relatable did you discover your character in Ajogyo to your actual selves?
Prosenjit: In a technique, I can inform you that we will’t outline love, proper? All people has tried, however are you able to outline love? It’s very tough. My character defines love otherwise, which pertains to me as a result of I strongly consider that love is one thing you possibly can’t outline. It modifications with time.
Rituparna: I need to say all people can determine with the characters as a result of there’s a little bit of everybody in them. As a middle-class woman who’s fatigued and in addition a working lady, I feel many ladies can relate to her. The movie has many layers, stuffed with surprises, drama, and attention-grabbing relationship conditions.
Rituparna, what’s your tackle modern-day relationships?
Rituparna: They’re getting extra sophisticated, with gray areas turning into greyer. There are situations the place individuals can’t discover a means out. I consider Ajogyo will present new insights into relationships. It is going to provide a deep look into individuals’s minds and relationship points. The tendency now’s to desert relationships and half methods, which is straightforward. However staying within the relationship, going through challenges every day, and making amendments is what retains it going.
Ajogyo is your second movie with director Kaushik Ganguly. You have labored collectively in Drishtikone (2018) as properly. What do you admire about his imaginative and prescient of storytelling?
Prosenjit: Kaushik Ganguly is likely one of the most interesting storytellers as we speak. He tells his tales in a means that caters to the unusual feelings of individuals. He understands middle-class feelings. As a nice actor himself, he helps lots as a director. After I do movies with Kaushik, as soon as the script is completed, I get into my character, however as a director, he guides me, and I grow to be a pupil. He’s very calm.
Rituparna: I agree. He’s a implausible storyteller and understands relationships. He has an intricate mastery of the hardest and most delicate relationship points, with underlined and nuanced issues the place you possibly can see your self. He’s considered one of a form in our nation proper now.
Praktan (2016) was a a lot talked about movie which noticed you each coming collectively after a very long time. What led to this hole?
Rituparna: I didn’t take a break from motion pictures, however I took a break from movies with him. I grew inside my movies, exploring completely different sorts and carving a distinct segment for myself. The audiences have accepted us fantastically in our respective methods. Future introduced us collectively once more, and I all the time needed Shiboprosad Mukherjee to direct our reunion.
Prosenjit: Earlier than Praktan, we hadn’t labored collectively for about 14 years, which was a acutely aware determination and a blessing. There was a common energy that introduced us again. After 14 years, the magic was nonetheless there in Praktan due to our long-standing pairing. Now, we’ve determined to come back collectively onscreen each two and a half to a few years. The viewers’s love has been fixed, be it Praktan, Drishtikone, or now Ajogyo.
How do you two full one another as actors on the large display?
Prosenjit: In our first movie, she was a newcomer and I used to be already an enormous star. The purpose was to make her comfy. Over time, I noticed her maturity, ardour, and love for her craft. She began with business cinema, then balanced mainstream and gained Nationwide Awards. She immerses herself utterly into her character, which I recognize.
Has Rituparna stated something that actually touched your coronary heart?
Prosenjit: She tells me I taught her lots as a newcomer. Right this moment, actors have skilled help—PRs, managers, and many others. However again within the day, we didn’t have such steering. I had accomplished plenty of work by then, so I used to advise her on dealing with media and managing her schedule. Our bond has developed over time.
What about you, Rituparna? What qualities in him do you admire essentially the most?
Rituparna: He has super capabilities. He can assume very deeply and focus solely on his profession, which is a large reward. I’ve to stability my thoughts on many issues—household, profession, and extra. He can strategize higher than I can. I’m extra emotional.
Prosenjit, with Jubilee and Scoop—your Hindi initiatives doing properly—does it grow to be worrying to ship greater and higher?
Prosenjit: The stress is for individuals to like my work. Folks know me in Mumbai, however after watching Jubilee and Scoop, particularly Jubilee, they marvel why I’m not there extra typically. The stress is about what’s subsequent. My stress is after I do a Shesh Pata, what do I do subsequent? Even when a movie does properly on the field workplace, I need my ardour to stay, even when it’s a small character, so individuals discuss it. I’ve felt this for 30 years, however now, I merely need to get pleasure from my work.
