Bangla superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee is happy to mentor young filmmakers. The national award-winning actor says Bengali cinema must strike a balance between entertainment and intellect. By Karan Bhardwaj

Did you know that Salman Khan was not the first choice to play the lead in blockbuster Maine Pyar Kiya in 1989IJ The role was first offered to Bengali cinema’s iconic star Prosenjit Chatterjee. As luck would have it, he denied the film. Chatterjee was also offered Saajan but he chose to do his regional cinema. Today, he doesn’t hold any regrets. “It’s part of destiny. People give me a standing ovation. I am a dedicated actor and command same respect as any other superstar would. Bengali cinema was dependent on me. They needed me,” said the actor who was here to promote his latest flick Jaatishwar. It is one of the biggest Bengali releases to date. The film is based in two timelines. While Chatterjee portrays the 19th century Bengali folk poet of Portuguese origin Anthony Firingee, the other characters belong to the present day. The life of Firingee was last spelled on screen by legendary Bengali actor Uttam Kumar in the 1967 film Antony Firingee. “It is very different from Uttam Kumar’s film. I am trying to prove my point but you would acknowledge that I have two identities, one of the poet and the other of my own self,” he said adding that “time has come when we should release regional films globally since there’s more acceptance than ever before.”

The 51-year-old actor said that Bengali cinema is specially looked at with curiosity. language cannot be the barrier. “We download Chinese and Iranian films. I recently watched a Marathi movie sans dubbing. So language is not an issue. The youth today is interested in good cinema. The best thing is that you don’t have to push against the wall to get it. You go on Net and find what’s happening in Bengal. Internet has made the world a smaller place,” he said.

In the last few years, there has been a revival in the Bengali cinema. Chatterjee has been part of that new wave, especially through the films of Rituparno Ghosh.

He is hopeful that eastern side of the country will shine again with path breaking cinema. “Not only Rituparno, who was a legend in his own capacity, there are many young and talented filmmakers who are churning out some interesting cinema. If you think I represent Bangla cinema, then with all my responsibility, I can say that our cinema has a golden future. And I acknowledge my role of being a mentor to the young guns,” he said.

Despite Bengali being the sixth largest spoken language in the world, the revenue generated from its cinema is way behind than Southern cinema. Chatterjee pointed out few reasons.

“In Maharasthra and West Bengal, the audience is exposed to variety of cinema which comes from rest of India and the world. In South, market is closed. Hindi films are not a phenomenon. I remember when Sanjay leela Bhansali’s Devdas was a big craze countrywide, there was not even its single poster in Chennai. Shah Rukh’s Chennai Express fared well due to obvious reasons (it was an ode to southern part). One of the major reasons for churning lesser revenues is that we don’t have adjacent territories (Bangladesh) due to social, economical and political commitments. Once these markets are open, our business will get a big boost. I think work is in progress in that direction. But I am happy the way we have risen in terms of content in the last one decade. Bengal was always obsessed with intellect. So we were happy doing quality films rather than money-minting ones. But I am personally in favour of blending quality and entertainment,” he shared.

For a few years, Chatterjee has been doing artistic movies. “In over 340 films that I have done, 300 would be commercial. But luckily, when I started doing more of quality films, the dynamics of cinema changed. Earlier, art films were supposed to be small-budget films. But today we are also well-paid,” he said. He will also be seen in a few Hindi movies like Traffic and Nawazuddin Siddique starrer Bandook Baaj.

“I don’t want to be part of Bollywood for the heck of it. I will only do films which whet my artistic appetite,” he said.