Sorry for being away... Have been really busy and haven't been able to carve out the time to blog. My Basterds review is still pending. Surprisingly, don't feel like writing about it. Not that I don't like the film. But somehow it's become too internalised to actually write it in a blog. Maybe I will, later. Anyway, here's a great piece of news. So had to share with all of you.
After Byomkesh Bakshi, Anjan Dutt is bringing back Kakababu. Isn't that great, great news? Well, this one's for television. BIG is getting into TV production here in Bengal and Anjan-da's Kakababu series is one of their first ventures. "People advised me not to get into TV. They said, you are doing one film after the other, why do you need to do television? But I don't feel TV is any less today and making Kakababu sounded tempting enough," Anjan-da told me the other evening. The cast? Well, Saswata Chatterjee, who plays Ajit in Anjan-da's Byomkesh movie Adim Ripu, gets to play his first big lead as Kakababu. Earlier we have had Sabyasachi Chakraborty playing Kakababu. Let's see how Saswata plays the limping lion. Santu, Kakababu's loveable sidekick from Sunil Gangopadhyay's much-read books, will be played by Anubrata, who was one of the four guys in Anjan-da's Madly Bangali. Shooting starts in November in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Gorumara. Keep reading this space for more.
Here's a film we Bengalis have been waiting for ever. Aparna Sen's The Japanese Wife. The film's an adaptation from a book by Kunal Basu and stars Rahul Bose, Raima Sen, Moushumi Chatterjee and Japanese actress Chigusa Takaku. It's been in the making for a long, long time. It's been ready for quite some time, too. Those who have seen it have all gone WOW and yet, we don't know why Saregama won't release the movie. Here's a trailer I found on YouTube and this one-minuter does look WOW.
No, it's not Amitabh Bachchan. For those who have been tracking the career of Soumitra Chatterjee for over half a century, would agree with me. Ray's favourite actor has achieved what AB has struggled to do on a number of occasions — make the smooth transition from a leading man to a character actor to an old leading man to an old character actor.
He was beautiful in his youth. Watch him in Apur Sansar or Debi or Aranyer Dinratri or Teen Bhuvaner Paarey and you would be convinced why women would go crazy for him. Yes, Uttam Kumar was the Nayak, but Soumitra Chatterjee was no less. Let's not get into the debate of who was a better actor in the 70s because for every Uttam fan, you will find a Soumitra follower.
What's fascinating is the way Soumitra settled into the elderly roles. Make no mistake, he had no smaller an image than Bachchan in Bengal. Come on, he was Feluda, for Kali's sake. But Uttoran onwards, he was a character and no longer the Charminar-smoking sleuth. Paromitar Ek Din, Sanjhbaatir Rupkathara, Aabar Aranye... Soumitra was as good as the old man as he was as the matinee hero. And just to let the rest of the country know, last year, his turn in Podokhhep won him the National Award for Best Actor.
Just watch him here in a commercial he has done recently for Thums Up and let it load and play till he says "Ebaar jombe moja!" Watch those eyes twinkle, watch that smile engulf his face, watch that slow transformation of the body language... few actors around the world can recall years of experience and translate it at will in a few nano seconds. Soumitra can do that and like Bachchan, he deserves roles written for him. I can tell you I am writing one, with him in mind. And man, I am going to make it!
