Veteran Bengali actor, filmmaker and musician Anjan Dutt on Saturday announced his retirement from theatre, reflecting on his approach to acting over the past decades in a heartfelt note shared on Facebook.
His last performance in the play King Lear will take place at Gyan Manch on March 9.
Dutt, 71, recently appeared in Parambrata Chattopadhyay’s directorial Ei Raat Tomar Amar alongside veteran actress Aparna Sen. In his note, the artist reflected on the complexities he delved into while portraying the flawed and negative characters. He expressed his satisfaction with his characters, who found their moments of redemption as the narrative advanced.
“As an actor, bad guys are much more interesting to play than good guys. Bad guys have more complexities, more layers, more material to work on. I have been a trained actor and preferred to be real, believable and totally committed to the character… Both theatre and film are such a medium that as an actor in the real sense you cannot correct yourself. What is done is done. All the hard work you put in may have flaws, but you cannot undo them,” Dutt wrote on Facebook.
Among the diverse films Dutt has acted in over the years, from his early works like Chaalchitra and Kharij to his later works in Nirbaak and Shaheb Bibi Aar Golam, Dutt has played characters who are not entirely perfect. The characters he has played all his life are either narcissistic, morally compromised, suffer from internal guilt, or are cowards, Dutt said in his note.
As a theatre actor as well, where he got to play characters including Galileo and Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman, his notion about flawed characters with their vulnerability prevailed and he found them compelling enough to enact.
He wrote, “Sentimentalism is the worst thing an actor can or should resort to. The job is to be REAL. That's why acting is not anybody's job but only that of an actor. You don't mouth dialogues. You just have to become the character. Not pretend. Not try to be but become. You cannot be yourself. Neither can you be larger than life. You cannot be overdramatic. Just be. Just keep doing the action required. The very word "action" means acting.”
Dutt concluded his note by bidding farewell to the stage with his last performance of William Shakespeare’s play King Lear and promised to his fans it would be a fitting end to his career.
“At the age of 71, I have decided to end my theatre acting with the darkest, badass ever... King Lear. It's the redemption of Lear in the end that makes playing him so fulfilling to enact. Come if you can on the 9th of March at Gyan Manch,” he signed off.
Anjan Dutt’s recent directorial Chalchitro Ekhon (2024), released on May 10, 2024, intricately weaves the personal and professional bonding of Kunal Sen (based on veteran filmmaker Mrinal Sen) and Ranjan (based on Anjan Dutt), developed on the sets of an ambitious film, Chaalchitra, in 1981. Also starring Sawon Chakraborty, the film is currently streaming on Hoichoi.