This story is from October 31, 2011

I am still fond of Rituparno: Buddhadeb Dasgupta

Buddhadeb Dasgupta talks about his next; says a creative person should never lose his voice
I am still fond of Rituparno: Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Buddhadeb Dasgupta talks about his next; says a creative person should never lose his voice.
Have you finished the casting for your Tagore project titled ���������Thrayadashee���������?
Yes, I am more or less done with the casting. The selection includes ���������Pukurdhare��������� (Delhi-based Odissi dancer Sandipa Palit), ���������Krishnakali��������� (Rimjhim Gupta and adman Sumanta Chatterjee), ���������Sesh Chithi��������� (theatre actor Subham Singh), ���������Ek Gaye��������� (Barun Chanda), ���������Ishtition��������� (Bobby Chakraborty, Rijita, Pritabash), ���������Banshiwala��������� (Jaya Seal Ghosh), ���������Camelia���������, (FTTI graduate Vinay Sharma and Ranjini Chakraborty), ���������Fanki��������� (Vinay Sharma and Kasturi Chatterjee), ���������Hothat Dekha��������� (Jaya Seal Ghosh), ���������Patralekha��������� (Sheena Chohan) and ���������Basabari��������� (Ranjini Chakraborty, Sumanta Chatterjee and Priya Pal).
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We haven���������t finalized the cast for ���������Banshi���������. I will be leaving Kolkata to shoot in Purulia from November 2 and will continue till November 25. My daughter, Alokananda, is doing the music for this Hindi movie.
What prompted you to cast Rimjhim as Krishnakali?
I have literally combed for an actor who has the ���������kalo horin chokh��������� and almost came to the conclusion that those kind of women (from Moynapara) don���������t even exist anymore. Rimjhim had come to me while I was casting for ���������Mondo Meyer Upakhyan���������. I had almost finalized her to play Rituparna���������s daughter. But finally, things didn���������t work out. She is an intelligent girl and has read Tagore. Of course, I do understand that I will need to get things done by her.

Jaya Seal Ghosh is also playing quite a few characters in your movie���������
Yes. She has a lot of potential. Her facial expressions have retained the innocence I found when she started work with me in ���������Uttara���������. Sheena Chohan, who has done a film with Mammootty, met me in Mumbai while I was casting. Her face suits the role. I am working with images and the look of the actors is very important for me. In some cases, the actors don���������t even have too many dialogues either. It���������s all about using them to bring forth my vision of Tagore���������s images. There are already talks about the fact that both you and Rituparno Ghosh are working on Tagore projects. Considering that you have shared a volatile relationship with him, can you avoid comparisons?
Volatile is not the word that I���������d use to describe my relationship with Rituparno. Of course, I have said something about an issue in the past and I don���������t regret doing that. A creative person can lose his share of fame and money in life but he should never lose his voice that articulates his feelings of self-respect. If I meet him, I am definitely going to enquire about his health and his forthcoming movie. I think, he did a swell job as an actor in ���������Memories in March��������� and I���������m so happy that the film will also be screened at IFFI, this year. There is a basic honesty in the script and that has a lot with Rituparno���������s personal angst and experiences.
So, are you extending an olive branch to him?
I have known Rituparno much before Kolkata came to know about his works. Of course, I���������m still fond of Rituparno. I have seen him growing from scratch. He is much junior to me. I don���������t derive any pleasure from hurting anyone. But if I have to make a choice between my self-respect and not hurting someone, I choose the former. I really feel for him when I pause to think how much he must have gone through for his sexual preferences. The world can be very unkind while passing judgments on such personal matters.
I strongly feel that his acting in movies that make people aware of how to empathize with people from the third gender, needs to be acknowledged by everyone. As for comparisons between his and my project on Tagore, I am sure that we are working in two different spaces. I had read somewhere that he didn���������t quite agree with Satyajit Ray���������s documentary on Tagore. His will be more of a biographical work. Mine, in contrast, is not a biographical project at all. I have taken images from 13 poems of Tagore and reacted to them in my own way. When people see my film, they might even think this isn���������t Tagore in the trueblue sense. But it surely will be regarded as a piece of interesting cinematic work.
Personally speaking, I have loved Ray���������s documentary on Tagore and it���������s only after Rituparno���������s project is screened will I be able to answer any questions on his work. But one thing I���������d want to mention is that Tagore or any work of his should be viewed in the contemporary context by movie makers. Tagore died in 1941. It���������s not possible for him to predict how relationships and the world would change after him. Cinema, which is a reflection of times, can���������t remain static. The way Tagore viewed the relationship between a sister-in-law and a brother-in-law when he wrote ���������Nastanir��������� might need a bit of rethinking when we are making movies on a similar subject now. Today, a person can openly say that he is gay. Cinema will reflect this sentiment too. But would anyone say that in Tagore���������s times? Adapting a Tagore text now should not mean that a filmmaker is caught in a time warp.
What about other movies being made in contemporary Bengal?
While ���������Baishey Srabon��������� and ���������Icche��������� have been appreciated by the audience, I feel young directors must do something more to carry forward the rich legacy of Bengali cinema. There is a huge audience waiting to watch our movies and if films are made well, satellite rights will fetch good money too. Even now, I am earning by selling satellite rights of ���������Durutyo��������� and ���������Uttara���������. Why should young makers only be engaged in a fight for survival? I watched ���������Icche��������� recently. I didn���������t find huge cinematic brilliance in ���������Icche���������, but I haven���������t met a single person who has said anything bad about the movie.
Now is the time for these directors to try to make films which also have cinematic brilliance. Srijit is my daughter���������s friend. He is an intelligent director and well aware of world cinema. His films should not just be restricted to being intelligent entertaining fare. I hope, he doesn���������t fall into that trap. Look at the song ���������Amake amar moto thakte dao���������. Even a year after its release, I still find people humming it. The songs from ���������BS��������� seem to be other versions of this cult number. I wish, Anupam (Roy) came out of this temptation of replicating the ���������Amake amar moto��������� feel in all his numbers. He is talented and I hope he will experiment more. I will be happiest if 10 years down the line, today���������s young directors and composers of Tollywood do such work that their names are taken in the same breath as that of the masters of the 60s and 70s.
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