The Last Lear
What’s your role in The Last Lear?
Rituparno Ghosh and I were meaning to work together for many years. Finally we both zeroed in on a subject we liked. The film is inspired by a play by Utpal Dutt. I play a theatre actor who had excelled as King Lear on stage. I’m a fading actor who gets a film offer in the twilight years of his life. I like the subject because there has constantly been a friendly friction between theatre and cinema. Theatre actors feel cinema to be a compromise. Some actors like Utpal Dutt, Naseeruddin Shah and Paresh Rawal have been able to bridge the gap between cinema and theatre. Not every actor has the guts and guile to do both. This is the dilemma that Ritu wants to bring in. My character has to contend with going from theatre to cinema. Interestingly, I play a Shakespearean actor.
Did you enjoy your shoot in Kolkata?
I loved shooting the film in Kolkata. The last time I shot there was for Dulal Guha’s Do Anjane nearly thirty years ago. I also shot one of my first films, Saudagar in Kolkata and also a song for Yaraana at a stadium there. It was indeed a joy to be there, to drive past the streets that filled me with nostalgia. At a function I met up with my old colleagues from the company where I worked before I left for Mumbai to become an actor. To just drive past the place that I used to stay and where I worked was such an emotional experience. Kolkata has always been very special. I came back to Kolkata after quite a while to shoot. There seems to be a general upliftment in the city. The roads are wider and cleaner. A lot of new buildings have also come up. The city has changed, but the people’s enthusiasm has not. Their passion enthusiasm and love are so invigorating. I’ve never witnessed such enthusiasm in any part of the world.
How is Rituparno Ghosh as a director?
It’s wonderful to work with someone who’s so creative and intellectually-equipped. It’s rare to come across a filmmaker so steeped in cinema, history, aesthetics and culture. I thought the budget constraints would cramp the production values of this film. To my surprise, there are no compromises on that score. I’m so happy to see that there’s no end to the technical finesse in the end-product even if the budget is a fraction of what we generally spend on an average Hindi film.
What do you have to say about your friendly ghost and genie roles in Vivek Sharma’s Bhootnath and Sujoy Ghosh Aladdin respectively?
Both the ghost and genie roles require me to tap the child within me, who is never very far from the surface in my personality. A lot of my interaction in Bhootnath is with a child. I’ve had a child as my co-star years ago in Do Anjaane and more recently in Black and Ek Ajnabee. But these were films for a grown-up audience. Bhootnath and Aladdin are my gifts to my young audiences.