Is Calcutta's loss, Mumbai's gain? When National Award winner Srijit Mukherji took his "two suitcases and moved to Bandra in Mumbai", he left behind "even the director of Rajkahini".

That's how Srijit explained it to his Bengali heroine, Rituparna Sengupta, who was naturally disappointed when Vidya Balan becamehis new Begum Jaan.

"Yes, Ritu was disappointed," he chuckled, "as every hungry actor should be. But Ritu had a very cute way of showing it. She'd send me messages like, 'So how's your Begum Jaan?' And I'd tell her, 'Ritu, you're my Begum Jaan too...' Ritu was obhimani with me."

"But I explained to her that this was an entirely new journey for me. I was leaving behind everything including the director of Rajkahini . It was a new beginning for me in Mumbai."

Rituparna Sengupta had every reason to feel shortchanged because Rajkahini was a performance that almost broke her.

"Ritu is such an elegant, convent-educated, genteel city person bred on Tagore that to play this raw, rustic, almost masculine brothel keeper was diametrically opposite to who she is," observed Srijit. He confesses he was practically cruel and inhuman to prise that performance out of her. "When I saw Ritu's gait on the first day of shooting, I was shocked. I had to break her down ruthlessly to build her up. I even resorted to the kind of sarcasm that can cut a person. And Ritu responded like Begum Jaan. She wiped her tears and rose to the challenge."

There was more in store when it came to dubbing. He shook his head and said, "That shrill feminine voice won't do." Ritu wondered, "So you'll get another actor to dub for me? There goes my National Award!"

Srijit came up with another inhuman process. He got Ritu to scream into the mike till her veins throbbed and her voice broke. Then he got her to dub a couple of lines in that hoarse voice. As soon as her original voice returned, he got her to scream and break her voice again. By the time she was thus done with the dubbing, Ritu was ill "with blood pressure problems".

But that blood and sweat did not land her the National Award. Says Srijit, "When Ritu says she owns the character of Begum Jaan, I agree with her totally. I want to take nothing away from Kangana but Rituparna Sengupta deserved the National Award for Rajkahini ."

That, however, is his past as the man who travels light "even through life" has put down roots in Mumbai. Begum Jaan with Vidya Balan is certainly not going to be a one-off adventure in Hindi. Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt have fixed him up in a neat two-bedroom apartment off Carter Road with a maid, a cook, a car and a driver at his service. He's in talks with producers like Sanjay Leela Bhansali too while the Bhatts have adopted him as part of their family banner. So the National Awards will now be re-directed to the Hindi film industry.

Meanwhile, actor Rahul Bose who's always been a Mumbaikar, is making his own new discoveries. When he chose to tell the story of 13-year-old Poorna from Telangana, who's the youngest to scale Mt Everest, he also turned producer-director. And, after all these years on the starry side of the camera, he got a rude awakening as producer of Poorna . Especially when he tapped various state governments for tax exemption. The babudom, the favours sought in return, and bringing oneself down to the level of an office boy are a few takeaways from wearing the producer's shoes for this film.

On the other hand, Arvind Kejriwal gave him a tax exemption certificate within 24 hours with three more state governments soon following suit. It is a feat for it's rare to get a tax exemption before the release of a film.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author