Malayalam films are similar to Bengali films: Prosenjit Chatterjee
Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee talks about the similarities between the two industries and their penchant to being true to their culture
By : priya sreekumar
Update: 2015-11-19 23:23 GMT
A towering figure in Bengali cinema, having acted in more than 300 films, Prosenjit Chatterjee was present at the All Lights India International Film Festival held in Kochi as the Ambassador for Bengali cinema.
His film, Baishe Srabon was screened at the festival and was well received by the audience. Prosenjit has a connection with Mollywood in the sense that he had acted in the Hindi remake of Traffic, in the role of a superstar that Rehman had played in the original.
Bengali and Malayalam films have a lot of similarities with respect to realistic story lines and have always garnered major National recognition.
Talking about its strong parallel as well as commercial films, Prosenjit says, “I have been working for mainstream as well as parallel films and feel most of the cinema that is made in Kerala and Bengal stand out for the storylines; though regional cinema has its limitations regarding visibility on a national level. Irrespective of whether you tag it as parallel or commercial what works and gets you returns at the box office is a successful film.”
“Pather Panchali, Satyajit Ray’s debut film, still does business after sixty years. I think audiences are changing and they are beginning to appreciate different genres of cinema and what they watch becomes a hit!”
Revealing that he has been a big fan of Malayalam cinema for the past 25 years, Prosenjit says he watches all regional cinema and has done a lot of remakes of Mammootty and Mohanlal’s films.
“I respect Malayalam films the same way I respect Bengali films. I think Malayalam films have not compromised on the essence and have kept their own statement and are coming up with very good themes. I see a lot of similarity between Bengali and Malayalam films regarding the basic emotions, the craftsmanship, art and performance. I also feel both the industries are very true to their art and culture.”
Though Prosenjit had a tight schedule, he decided to come down to Kochi leaving aside the Kolkata Film Festival because the platform provided a wonderful opportunity for interactions with regional actors and filmmakers as well as international makers.
He says, “I can see world cinema or a regional cinema on the Net but here I get to watch as well as interact with the filmmakers.” Prosenjit mentions that he had been to Kerala long back but adds that he has a lot of friends because of which he knows about the land, culture and its food. He says, “I want to come back especially for the Ayurvedic treatments that I have heard so much about.”
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