Dhritiman Chaterji. Picture by aranya sen

Four decades after Ray’s Pratidwandi, you worked with Sandip for Hitlist. How was it?

I took up Hitlist because I would be working with Babu (Sandip) and that clan. There are the longer-serving assistants (of Ray) in Babu’s crew and there’s a familiar way of working. We had a long shoot in Kuala Lumpur which was like a reunion of an extended family I knew so well. There was Tinnu Anand, who was a long-standing assistant of Manikda, and his wife, me and my wife (Ammu), Babu and his wife (Lolita) and the crew. The other reason is because Hitlist is a thriller. Thriller and comedy are two genres that I never got to do. I play a retired police officer who pursues the people (suspects in a murder mystery) abroad and solves the case.

Is there any similarity in the work processes of father and son?

The method of filmmaking is similar. Manikda had a storyboard divided into shots, Babu has the same. Babu is sure of what he wants and there is an economy of means. Like Manikda, Babu doesn’t use a video and he operates the camera, does the visual editing himself and does his own music.

Sandip is not known to show his actors how to do a scene. Is that different from his father?

Manikda didn’t have a uniform method of working. He would let loose some actors — and fortunately I fell in this category — while with others he would be very, very precise to the last detail.... See, Manikda used to write roles with actors in mind. But this is my hypothesis.

Do you think he had you in mind while writing Pratidwandi?

We had met long before the film happened. We met when my friends and I were setting up a film society in Delhi University. Our connection was renewed when Manikda asked me to screen-test for Pratidwandi. So I assume he had me in mind while writing the role of Siddhartha. As for me, I found a great fit between the character and myself. I didn’t have to force myself into the role.

Dhritiman with Satyajit Ray at his Bishop Lefroy Road residence. (Telegraph archive)

And then your association with Ray grew stronger...

Yes, his Bishop Lefroy Road house was a place where we would have regular addas and it was not necessarily only about cinema. We talked about literature, sociology, politics. In Bombay, Shyam Benegal’s house was another place for addas.... I got into the film world due to my interest in cinema and in these people as filmmakers.

You worked with Ray and Mrinal Sen almost at the same time. How was the experience?

I was holding a job as a young executive in the Sixties and Seventies, and acting in cinema was a complete no-no. There were white sahibs at our Metal Box office and it was very tough to balance acting with my job. Mrinalda called me for Interview around the same time (as Pratidwandi) and I had to figure out whether I would do my job or take up acting. Later, I worked with Mrinalda for Padatik.... But back then, you had the Ray camp and the Mrinal camp. And if you liked one, you had to dislike the other. I had started out with both and so I was equally cordial with both.

Despite Ray and Sen, why didn’t you take up films as a career?

I had a very successful career in advertising. I was a creative director at Hindustan Thompson (now JWT) and I was enjoying my job immensely. There were two reasons behind my decision to not take up acting as a career. First, I felt my place was in independent or parallel cinema, both as an actor and as a follower of cinema. In the Sixties and Seventies, there was parallel cinema and there was commercial cinema and there was no meeting point between the two. I didn’t think I would enjoy working in commercial films. I thought I would be a misfit, though I liked and admired the films of Ajoy Kar, Asit Sen and Tarun Majumdar. Besides, fame and status are a bit of a trap. Once you get into this, you lose your independence. You can’t pick and choose anymore. For me, my independence was very important.

How did you choose your films after the Ray-Sen period?

I was turning down a lot of films because I was not interested in what I was being offered. Most of them were similar to the ones in Pratidwandi and Padatik — those intense, young rebel kind of roles.... I broke out of that mould with 36 Chowringhee Lane and later again with Ganashatru. I enjoy playing completely different characters. This is my single most important objective as an actor — to test myself and see how much transformation I can bring about.... I was greatly interested in Ashoke Viswanathan’s Shunya Theke Shuru. After a long time, there was a film dealing with the Naxalite issue. And then I did Moloy Bhattacharya’s Kahini, which is a kind of cultish film. People in the film festival circuits still ask me about Kahini.

But now you do mainstream films, like Black...

As an actor, I have reconciled those differences in myself. The contours of cinema have changed. Back then, monetary returns from a film was not an important factor. Being technically inept was a badge of courage. But this was a Utopian idea. I am aware that I am living in different times. My priority as an actor has changed. I am not hesitant to do mainstream cinema.

So, what kind of roles do you get now?

Ummm... If you are a veteran actor with a bit of a name, one expects you to do a reasonably good job. But I am bored. Now I find myself turning down more roles than I do.... It would have been fun if I were an old actor in the West. Just look at Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson, Jeremy Irons...

You are also doing a mega serial!

Yes, I am doing one (Somoy on Rupashi Bangla) for the first time, after having said nasty things about serials! There are two reasons. First, I want to find out what this business of mega serials is all about. You do long hours and it’s very taxing and I want to test myself. Second, I want to try hamming it up (laughs)! You can’t ham in cinema. And I am finding that I can do it.

Do you live in Chennai when work doesn’t bring you to Calcutta?

I live outside Chennai, in the Cholamandalam artists’ community which was built in the 1960s. Ammu and I had acquired a home there in 1990. It is miles away from Chennai, located next to the sea, and nothing takes me to the city every day. It’s less mad. I couldn’t live in the middle of a city. That’s why in Calcutta, I prefer living in Salt Lake.

Is Chennai more home for you than Calcutta?

I never considered Calcutta my home. And I don’t know what to say when people ask me whether Calcutta is my home or Chennai is my home.... Home to me means where I have friends and where I have places to stay. So, there are four cities that I call home — Calcutta, San Francisco, Colombo and Bombay. My brother has a home in San Francisco. I was there for three months and I loved the place. I lived in Colombo for sometime where I held a corporate job, and I loved Sri Lanka. I made some friends there. And I keep going back to Bombay.... The physical location doesn’t matter to me. Rootedness doesn’t depend on a physical place. I think you can be a better Bangali if you live outside Calcutta, instead of living in the little well called Calcutta and wallowing in Bangaliana. We have to be multicultural and we need to open ourselves to influences.

Books you are reading: John Banville’s The Sea and Kaliprasanna Bandopadhyay’s Madhyajuge Bangla.

Music you’re currently hooked to: A 2006 Mark Knopfler album with Emmylou Harris and a world tour album by Arnob, a Bangladeshi musician who sings urban folk and Rabindrasangeet.

Recent films you’ve liked: Kim Ki-duk’s Breathless has stunned me, and I want to see Sam Mendes’s Revolutionary Road again.

Places you want to see: Ladakh is one place I have been and want to go again. Also the Laos-Cambodia area; I have never been there.

Which is your favourite Dhritiman Chaterji film? Tell t2@abpmail.com