Why don't we see more of Parambrata Chattopadhyay in Hindi cinema?

Radhika Bhirani

rbhirani@gmail.com

Parambrata Chattopadhyay's latest turn as Sudip, a measured performance as a self righteous doctor in the visually lyrical social drama Bulbbul, brings me back to a question I've always had: Really, why don't we see much more of him, and in more prominent roles in Hindi cinema?

The actor, who turned a year older today, has a rich filmography to his credit in Bengali cinema. But ever since he tip-toed into Hindi filmdom, with what he describes as the "soft spoken, chivalrous, generous and gentleman-like" role of Assistant Sub-Inspector Satyoki 'Rana' Sinha aka Saarthi in the 2012 film Kahaani, Parambrata has left Bollywood buffs hungry for more.

He's done bits here and there, in Gang of Ghosts, Traffic and Pari, playing a 'saarthi', a non-quintessential hero once in a while, but still, at the cost of a bit of exaggeration, 'yeh dil maange more'.

Over a quick chat which had happened in February, before the lockdown and severity of the Covid-19 pandemic was realised in India, I had asked Parambrata what I had to.

His simple explanation: "Primarily, the reason why you don't see me that frequently in Hindi films, is because I do not stay in Mumbai. And when I am in Kolkata, which I am most of the times, I am extremely busy with acting in Bengali films, directing them, producing them and releasing them. That takes up a lot of my time."

The film industry in Mumbai, he added, operates in a way like most others do -- driven by a certain measure of visibility. "It requires the people who are looking for work in that industry to stay there, which I don't. Neither can I because all my other commitments keep me in Kolkata. So, yeah."

At the time I spoke to Parambrata, Bulbbul, backed by Anushka Sharma and Karnesh Sharma, and helmed by Anvita Dutt, was waiting in the wings to release on Netflix. It was one of the two Hindi projects he had worked on. The other, Seema Pahwa's Ram Prasad Ki Tehrvi, was due for a big screen release in May, but latest buzz is that it may now see the light of the day on a streaming platform.

In fact, Parambrata said that since the last two years, a lot of Hindi web series offers were coming his way. But he couldn't really commit his time because they wanted long-term involvement.

"My calendar and schedule is blocked for the next five to six months with multiple things --  acting in and producing multiple projects," he had said then, of course oblivious that a virus would just come barging out of nowhere (or do we know!?!) and bring life to a halt.

What he had signed up for then was a black comedy thriller Lord Curzon Ki Haveli, penned by Bikas Mishra, the award-winning writer of Chauranga, and to be directed by actor Anshuman Jha.

It was the discovery of a common thread with Anshuman that first drew Parambrata to come on board for the film.

He recounted, "Anshuman and I had met a couple of times here and there during festivals. I also came to know that he had started producing independent films, which is very encouraging because that's exactly what I do. I always like the concept of independent actors starting to produce their own content."

Besides, the concept of a "chamber comedy" -- with four characters and one location -- is something that he found "extremely exciting".

"I've always liked Anshuman's work as an actor and I am sure he's going to do a wonderful job for his debut as a director as well. Everything came together and made me say yes to it," said Parambrata, who had to begin shooting for the project in mid-March.

As a director himself, Parambrata has a mammoth project at hand -- Abhijaan, a biopic on Soumitra Chatterjee. The legendary actor will play his older self in the film, while Jisshu Sengupta will be seen essaying his younger version.

It's a dream project for Parambrata, who did a short three, four days' schedule for the film in February. Some more bits had to happen in March.

"I have worked with him as a co-actor for quite some time now on multiple projects," he said of Soumitra Chatterjee, who at 85, is a widely noted and awarded actor.

Without divulging what aspect of the veteran actor's life he will highlight through the film, Parambrata added, "I have a certain perception about him. Based on that, I started building the whole premise of this film. I consulted him that, 'This is the aspect that I would like to delve into and want to explore'. He seemed okay with it."

As one can imagine, a lot of it will be set in a period. Indeed, said Parambrata, and went on to reveal, "We are having to recreate some scenes from iconic films from the history of Bengali cinema, so that's not an easy task. The budgets for Bengali and regional cinema are not particularly high, so we don't have that much luxury as one can afford in Mumbai. Given the constraints, trying to pull off something like this is a daunting task. We are at it. Let's see. Let's hope we get there."

Even though he brought up the 'Bollywood' and 'regional' divide, Parambrata ensured clarifying that he personally doesn't believe in the idea of "national versus regional cinema".

"I don't think there can be anything called national or regional cinema. It is just cinema of different languages," he asserted, adding that thankfully, now there are "multiple cross-cultural things happening all over".

This, in his opinion, is a wonderful sign.

Having said that, Parambrata noted how Tamil and Telugu films by their own might are quite big and can even give Bollywood a run for their money with their sheer scale, which isn't the case for films of other languages.

"So, for regions such as ours (West Bengal), we have to purely depend on content. We can't depend on scale because Bollywood scores high on that front. But good content, ideas and thoughts are our only hope," said the actor, meekly and proudly admitting that content has been the trump card for Bengali cinema to have the global appeal it has had for years altogether.

Content, he believes, is also a crucial element in the streaming space today.

"The market has opened up a lot. But since I am an insider, and I work in and out of it, I can tell you that this market needs to be treated with more care and attention. It's a delicate market," he says of the OTT universe, which has caught the fancy of both the big and small fish in the showbiz world.

"People can tend to exploit it, people tend to do build their own conceptions of it and operate thus," believes Parambrata, who has featured in the Bengali web series Sharate Aaj.

"Some people might think personalised viewing market is only about sex, nothing else. Some people might think it's about different content... So you have to be very careful," he added of the medium.

After starting with a question I had been wanting to ask him, I also ended the conversation with something I intended to ask.

What was his reaction when he heard Abhishek Bachchan was roped in to play the titular role in Bob Biswas, a spin-off of a character, an assassin, excellently portrayed by Bengali actor Saswata Chatterjee in Kahaani?

"I don't know... Even I was a little surprised when I heard it. But I am damn sure some thought must have gone into. That's why it is being made."