Ranvir at Indrapuri Studio. (Aranya Sen)

In town to spend his Diwali holidays with fiancee Konkona Sensharma, Ranvir Shorey ended up playing a ‘Director of Photography’ in Aparna Sen’s Iti Mrinalini. A t2 chat with Ranvir on the sets at Indrapuri Studio...

What brings you to Calcutta? Are you a part of Iti Mrinalini?

I am here for my Diwali holidays for a week. But they are going to be shooting and I will get bored doing nothing. So I thought I will just be hanging around on the sets. Then I asked Koko’s mother (Aparna) if she could give me a small part and I got an offer! So I thought I might as well be with them.

What do you play?

It’s just a cameo. I play a DoP... I hardly have a line or two. He does nothing in the film. He is in no way connected to Mrinalini. You can say I am one of the junior artistes! A background actor! This is my look in the film... DoPs have a beard na? Lots of Bengali DoPs have a beard!

So how did you spend Diwali?

I just slept like a log. Between Diwali eve and Sunday, I must have slept 18 hours! I don’t celebrate Diwali. For me celebrating Diwali means lighting a lamp at most.

Are you familiar with Calcutta?

I have shot in Calcutta before. I was here recently shooting a film called Tina Ki Chabi in Tangra.

Have you learnt some Bengali from Konkona?

Yes.... I have a few lines in Bengali in Iti Mrinalini. I can understand most of it, I can speak very little. But by the time I die I think I will be a full Bengali (laughs). Food-wise, I have become quite a bit of a Bengali already. I am told it’s a very Bengali trait if you can eat fish and take out just the bone from your mouth. I can do that already! And I am told that Bengalis have ilishbhaja, and I love ilishbhaja. The conversion has started. I have started disliking Punjabi food, that’s another sign of turning Bengali!

Do you watch Bengali films?

I have seen a few of Konkona’s films and a few of Konkona’s mother’s films... 36 Chowringhee Lane... Charulata. I really like them; I think they are stunning and remarkable.

Which directors from Bengal would you like to work with?

Well, definitely Aparna Sen. I haven’t had any actor-director relationship with her yet. I am working more with her assistants than with her!

Work apart, what else do you plan to do in Calcutta?

I will eat, sleep and meet friends and do addabazi and maybe watch the odd old film. I have a few friends in Calcutta. That apart I am having fun on the sets. I get to pass comments and bug them at work!... I will go to Konark with the Iti Mrinalini team.

What are you busy with in Mumbai?

I will start work in November. I have a film and a TV project but I don’t know which one will start first. I have done the film Fatso, which is going to the South Asian Film Festival in New York. Rajat (Kapoor) has directed it. I hope to get good feedback though I won’t be going.

Are you and Konkona planning to get married in Calcutta?

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