Daily News: 'OTT has blurred lines between regional and national,' says Aranyak actor Parambrata Chatterjee

Ever since actor Parambrata Chattopadhyay stepped in front of the camera in 2001, he has aced all that he has done — from television to Bengali films to Bollywood to his recent OTT debut, and from acting to directing to producing. In an interview, Parambrata Chatterjee speaks about his journey in the industry so far, experience working with Raveena Tandon in the Netflix series Aranyak. Excerpts from the interview:

You are back in Aranyak and this time you’ve teamed up with Raveena Tandon to solve gruesome serial killings. What drew you to this project and character?

There were too many boxes that were being ticked. First of all, this was for Netflix -- the most prestigious platform that we have. Roy Kapur Films, Ramesh & Rohan Sippy, someone like Raveena Tandon all of these mattered, and then when I heard the story and eventually the script I think it made complete sense, so yeah. This is something that came my way and there was no question of not stepping into it.

What was it like working with Raveena Tandon? The two of you belong to different schools of acting. How did the merger happen?

I think more than belonging to two different acting schools I would say two different kinds of cinema. You know I'm a '90s boy and no matter what kind of cinema I've done, later on, I've watched all the right kinds of cinema while growing up, so yes I've watched a lot of Raveena Tandon movies. So it was very strange to end up working for such a long time and so many days and so closely with somebody whom I've kind of been a bit of a fanboy in my teens and I also said that to her on the first day of the shoot. But yeah after about the first 4-5 days it became easy. We became great friends and it was very easy very chilled out and very nice. We developed a great friendship.

How do you see the OTT platform? Does it give you a job satisfaction that was perhaps missing before?

I think what OTT has done is it has blurred the lines between regional, national, and all that. I think it is everything in one box so you can just choose what to watch and I have myself witnessed this during the last few years how perceptions have changed, how people appreciate good work over boundaries of language these days. It's nice, so yes it is opening up the possibilities for access to content in general and it is here to stay alongside the big screen.

The big screen will never fade but yes, OTT is creating opportunities for foreign subjects which never found their way here and it is also providing opportunities to people who would want to experiment with telling stories on the screen … it's becoming a little more widespread the whole filmmaking process is more democratic.

Why are you so rarely seen in Hindi films despite such a terrific debut in Kahani?

I think moving forward the ‘rarely seen’ bit that you talk about will be a little less and even if you look at the last two years I think the rare scene has lessened. After Kahani people expected that I would just immediately move to Mumbai and start doing Hindi films. I didn’t want that. I got very busy in Bengal. I learned direction myself and I was doing a lot of stuff. I don't regret it at all. I made some wrong choices in Hindi. I'm a little careful about that now and almost as a part of my answer to your previous question about what to do I think the advent of OTT has given me and many others like me a lot of good work.

Still from Aranyak.

More than twenty years as an actor and director in Bengali cinema...how do assess these two decades? Which of your films do you consider to be turning points?

Yes, two decades!! I started so young that it is been two decades almost …yeah it's been fascinating and in very many ways it's been very fascinating. When I look back at it I just sometimes feel that I've had many lives. There's a film in English called The Many Lives Of Pippa Lee. It's beautiful. I think my journey and many such as the journeys of many of the people remind me of that film because I feel that we live many lives in one lifetime. So what I'd done back in 2001-2 seems like a different life, it feels like a different person that was living that life. So it is living many lives in one lifetime. And a lot more needs s to happen. I think I need to get much wiser than I am now. I still am quite impulsive about certain things. I think all the experiences have made me mature, they have also managed to keep the hunger alive. You know, deciding to quit television was a big turning point for me. Doing the films of Sandip Ray and then The Bong Connection was a turning point. It made me a film actor. Then leaving for the UK to study was a turning point although that was something that people thought was absolute madness. But I am glad I did it. I'd think of turning producer and director is a big turning point. And I would say recently the pandemic has been a turning point.

Your last directorial Abhijan chronicled the life and career of the legendary Soumitra Chatterjee. What drew you to him and this project?

Abhijan came my way. The producers were a dear friend of Soumitrada so they came to me and said they would like to make this. I did think about it and then concluded that yes I would like to make this. I don't know ….when the film releases some people might not like it some people might like it very much. But I think for me it’s been a very unique experience interacting with Soumitrada spending so much time with him They gave me a lot of insight into the person's mind and existence and that is what I've tried to reflect on the screen

As an avid fan of Bengali cinema, I have seen it being handed down from Satyajit Ray and Ritwick Ghatak to Aparna Sen and my dear departed friend Rituparno Ghosh. Do you agree with me that a certain stagnancy has seeped into Bengali cinema after Ghosh? Why and what is the solution?

I don't know the reason for the stagnancy but yes, I sort of agree with the stagnancy. I think any industry when mainstream films and commercial films stop working …I think that's a bad sign for the industry because you know I think mainstream and parallel cinema keep each other in check. I think mainstream cinema in Bengali has completely stopped working and that is not a good sign and I think the people who are making that kind of cinema have become a little complacent. It stopped exploring more rooted subjects, well-grounded subjects and that's a problem. Having said that, there is a lot of interesting work happening and the people who have probably got complacent are also trying out new things and there's no stopping that, and then the next one or two years will be very crucial. After the pandemic, we thought the whole Bengali cinema industry will probably just collapse but that didn't happen thankfully. On the contrary, a lot of new films are being made. It would be very very interesting to see how it goes and I think that there will be a little bit of churning, so let's see how it goes.

Tell me about your projects and plans?

So as far as the Bengalis scene is concerned, I have another release on the 10th and then again another Bengali film the following week. We as a production company are producing 3 films next year, midsize Bengali films. And in the OTT space I am doing a series for Prime Video called The Girl, and then another series for Lionsgate Play. I am also doing a film being produced by Applause Entertainment. I'm currently shooting for a sports film. So, it’s a jampacked schedule for me.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out.