Indrani Haldar: I’ve never seen a great teacher like Soumitra Chattopadhyay

Soumitra Chattopadhyay was like a father figure to actress Indrani Haldar and when she heard the news of his demise she was speechless. For her, no word can describe the pain.

“I was going through a bad phase in

life

some years back where not many good roles were coming my way. I was only doing television and the monotony of it took a toll on me. That’s when I bumped into him and told him about my mental state. He told me just because I had no good offers, I shouldn’t be eating and sleeping at home. “An actor has to be prepared always,” he said and that inspired me a great deal. I decided to hit the gym, read a lot, be involved socially and came out of the phase smiling. His words continue to play on my mind,” Indrani shared with Etimes in an exclusive chat.

She also feels Soumitra was the most flexible actor, who is also a great teacher. “When I was first given the narration of Sanjhbatir Rupkathara by Anjan Das and

Joy Goswami

, I was very tense. It was an author-backed role and people had already visualised Sanjhbati in their minds. Also, the film was going to be very lyrical and I was bad with recitation. That’s when I sought Soumitra uncle’s help and he told me how to go about it. He said, ‘Tension korona’. Later on, I was in Silchar to perform an audio drama with him and again, I got a lot of help from him. I had always looked up to him as a friend, someone who is just a few years elder to me.”