Rituparna Sengupta, who has been both a doting daughter and a caring mother, has carried a part of herself onto her reel life as she portrayed her character Rittika in the recently released film Puratawn, an aesthetically filmed tale on relationships. Ahead of Mother’s Day, the actress opened up to t2 on the success of her film at the box office.
Your film Puratawn, based on a mother-daughter relationship, has completed 25 days in the theatre…
I am over the moon! I feel that I am really blessed. I thank all my well-wishers who have poured their love and affection towards me. My biggest strength is my audience, who have actually shown support and proved that there’s still room for this kind of film. The biggest compliment I got is that it will remain as a landmark film in the history of cinema. Losing my mother was painful for me and the pain was manifold, so this Mother’s Day will also be very painful for me. But I believe both my parents have been blessing me. They are very much alive in their blessings.
Were you able to show this film to your mother? Did she usually watch all your films?
No, I couldn’t show my mom anything of this film. My mom loved Datta and Ajogyo out of my recent releases. Maa was very keen to see Puratawn. The mother-daughter relationship is an emotional aspect in this film. After losing my mother, I always felt that I could feel my mother’s presence in my life through this film. That triggered me to place the movie from the perspective of a mother-daughter relationship.
Rituparna Sengupta and Sharmila Tagore, along with executive producer Sharmistha Mukherjee, at the screening of the film in Gurgaon
You have been producing films for quite some time now but Puratawn really marked your identity as a producer. Do you agree?
Yes, I have been producing for a long time. Some films that I have produced in the past have done well... some did very well, some did not, but yes, this was a super hit.
I always wanted to become a producer but never really shifted my entire focus on it for the simple reason that acting is my first priority. I am more of an actor than a producer. I have always approached production more out of passion than profession. My idea was to support directors who are looking for a getaway from the mainstream. I wanted storytellers to feel that there’s a place where they can come and tell their story comfortably.
My team and I co-produced Icche for Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy long back when they did not have many producers to support them. I never asked them to cast me also. Shibu is a friend but that was never the reason, I just saw great potential in their work. I produced a film like Ahare Mon without the involvement of any other big names. I have produced so many short films and films of diverse genres.
My growth as a producer has been gradual and systematic. I did not want anything drastic for myself. Everything is a learning process and to err is human. I cannot be perfect all the time but I am optimistic. Today, if people are saying that Puratawn marks the turning point of my journey as a producer and puts the stamp of a good producer on me, I accept this very humbly. It was all about hard work and teamwork. I have learnt from my mistakes in the past and am willing to learn more.
As a producer, you made sure to take the film to a wider audience. What did you think people connected with this film?
I always wanted my films to get global platforms. Whether I am acting or producing, I try to show it to a larger audience. I try to get feedback from a bigger audience. I don’t think cinema is regional anymore with the advent of OTTs. It is no longer language-bound; cinema’s language is much more versatile. Our film, based on relationships, be it a mother-daughter relationship or a husband-wife relationship, is as much as theirs as much as it is ours as Bengalis. Though the film is imbued with Bangaliana, it has a universal language. Whether as a producer or an actor, I think my movies have the potential to reach an international audience. Cinema has its own strength, and I think the positioning of the cinema is very important now.
Rituparna Sengupta and Indraneil Sengupta with Arbaaz Khan and Madhur Bhandarkar at the Mumbai screening
You also gave a lot of importance to marketing...
I have always marketed my films with a lot of affection and embraced different strategies for different films. Some worked, some didn’t. This film had a very different potential as we could bring Sharmila Tagore’s legacy on board. I went through a huge crisis in my life and I was not in the right frame of mind to do anything. As the release approached, I was feeling very lost. I didn’t know how to pick myself up. I didn’t work for two-three months. I felt Poila Baisakh would be the best time to present the film to the audience as a Bengali New Year’s gift.
Since we called the film Puratawn, I got involved with the Indian Museum to plan its song launch, we also screened our film at Gurgaon’s Museo Camera, which displays the old cameras. We tried our best, and the audience embraced the film so beautifully. The film is still running to houseful shows.
That for me was a big surprise. Everybody was moved by the film. People started seeing life from a different perspective. A lot of things worked in the film very beautifully. There are not many characters or incidents but there’s a certain stillness in the film. It is the stillness that worked. People are going back several times in the halls to watch the film. They are watching it with their family. The way the film merges the past, present and future is beautiful.
You have been a part of this industry for over three decades. Did it make your journey as a producer easy or did it have its own challenges?
Yes, there are a lot of big players in the market but I never really bothered with all these thoughts. Indraneil Sengupta gave his time, Suman Ghosh came down from the US and Sharmila Tagore committed to the film in every way possible. I told Sanjay and my children also that I will be really tied up and might not be able to give quality family time. Everyone supported in their own way and we could make it a grand success. Kudos to my team for pulling it off so effortlessly.
You have been a very successful mainstream heroine, and then you balanced that success with your acting roles in arthouse films. As a producer, what will be your focus?
Art and commerce are a fantastic combination. If these don’t combine, how do we understand a film’s value? It is very important for these two to come together in the present scenario. When you are producing art, you need to value it. If it is valued right, it means you have an understanding of art and commerce together. When a work gets both its artistic and commercial value, only then does an artist feel truly valued. Nowadays, people’s desire to watch a movie in a hall has diminished. So, only people paying to see a film in the theatres is the true measure of a film’s success.
What next?
I feel today there is a lot more scope to explore as an actor. My acting prowess can be explored in a new light. I have a few more releases lined up and I am also gearing up for my upcoming roles in various films. I have spent a lot as a producer, it is time now to earn that money back!