He is a theatre actor-writer-director and a “blissful bachelor” in his 30s who is pestered by his parents and grandma to get married. She is a photographer who is so scared of passing her prime that she searches online and offline for a suitable boy, flirting on Facebook and Instagram! Pratyay (Ritwick Chakraborty) and Royona (Sohini Sarkar) meet, connect and get married in Mainak Bhaumik’s Bibaho Diaries. Cue for the in-laws to interfere and personalities to clash. The key players of the film (produced by Rupa Datta, Camellia Productions) came together for a chat — organised by Camellia Productions — that was steered by Mainak at Camellia’s Royal Oak Banquet Hall, Gariahat Mall, recently. Only t2 was there...
(First, a disclaimer from Mainak)
Mainak: Married couples always warn me that marriage isn’t all ‘...and they lived happily ever after’, like in the movies. So, I made Bibaho Diaries, a fun, true-to-life movie about real marriage that is nothing like how marriage is shown in the movies. My experience (of weddings) is purely objective, of a voyeur who has watched weddings take place. For me, it was fun to watch and look at married people. People were getting married and I was listening to their stories, and that’s how I got the idea for the film. Bibaho Diaries is made up of the moments that happen between the selfies a married couple take and upload on social media.
(The Q&A begins)
Mainak: Ritwick, how has life changed for you after marriage?
Ritwick: Marriage is a huge responsibility, and certain changes take place in your life. Those who cannot come to terms with the changes face problems. Before getting married, I used to stay with a friend. But that certificate of marriage is not important. The change happens once you take the decision to live together.
Mainak: How have you been changing yourself in your seven years of married life?
Ritwick: Since I am deeply involved in this, it’s difficult to say how I am changing. But I’m really enjoying this!
Mainak: We have used a line in the film that goes, ‘Love marriage besh chaaper’. Is the chaap positive or negative?
Ritwick: It’s both! Think of a football match. If you are in the match, how will you get a perspective?! Mainak is watching the football match from the outside.
Mainak: Sohini is single. I have been wanting to work with Sohini since I watched her in Phoring. She has this spontaneous kinetic energy as an actor. And I was doing a film knowing that Sohini is as inexperienced as I am when it comes to marriage. What was your approach to this?
Sohini: I think my experience here is slightly more than yours, Mainak, because at one point of time I was in a live-in relationship. So it was kind of like leading a married life. Maybe relatives won’t call you to their house for post-wedding dinners, but the responsibilities are still kind of same. I was doing TV serials at that time and would live in a rented house. It wasn’t a smooth journey at first. I had to come to terms with situations like ‘When will he eat? When will he come back home at night?’
It takes about six months to settle down. We would wait for each other. We didn’t earn a lot at that time, and one had to think about who would pay the rent and who would contribute to the family expenses! It was tough to figure it out then. I had an understanding with my then boyfriend that he would drop me off to the studios if I had early morning shoots. I didn’t have a car. But he would get up late, and we would fight over it!
Mainak: I don’t see a lot of difference in a live-in relationship and a marriage situation...
Ritwick: I don’t feel so. Except issues like who’ll pay the rent doesn’t come up in a marriage.
Sohini: It also depends a lot on the maturity of the individuals.
Mainak: I got to know Ritwick from Chalo Let’s Go. How has been your journey as an actor in the last 10 years?
Ritwick: I didn’t come here to become a hero. I wanted to establish myself as an actor. I left a job to become an actor. Initially, I had to struggle, but since I had saved up about Rs 3 lakh, I could get by.
Mainak: Do you like to rediscover yourself as an artiste?
Ritwick: Yes, I like doing that. But then abhinetar haate kichhu nei… the characters come to him. A singer or a writer can rediscover himself/herself. So I wait in hope of such characters, and sometimes I get the opportunity to rediscover myself.
Mainak: Sohini, you started with television but have really grown in the last two years. How do you view this?
Sohini: I don’t give patta to anything. I don’t get swept off my feet when someone praises me.
Mainak: You have always been very balanced…
Sohini: I only get excited when I meet up with my friends, and when I get to dance with them.
Mainak: Sohini, during the shoot of the film I noticed that you were taking photographs. Is this a hobby?
Sohini: Maybe I had noticed something nice and clicked a picture.
Mainak: Ritwick, you are one of the best actors in Tollywood... what is your approach to acting?
Ritwick: I am not a trained actor, so I won’t be able to explain this technically. I believe in my character and give him all the support.
Mainak: People feel the characters Ritwick plays are so real… as if there is no camera, no one saying cut, everything about your character is so real. Is this calculated or is this your approach?
Ritwick: It’s an approach, but to some extent calculated as well. And my approach to acting has changed over the years. One has to do it in such a way that it seems real. I am somewhat familiar with the character I play in Bibaho Diaries. But even when I am not familiar with a character, I try to give it as much support as possible. And I never get tense while acting. Or I have never been tense of the camera or audience.
Sohini: I am tension-free now. But earlier, when I did theatre, I would get tense. I felt like I would forget my lines. The finer nuances of acting come out when I am relaxed. I never got tense while playing Royona in Bibaho Diaries.
t2: Ritwick, do you miss anything about your bachelor life?
Ritwick: I was not answerable to anyone about coming home. It’s not like I am answerable now, but ekta proyojon toiri hoyechhe about returning home. That I have to be back home.
t2: How do you sort things out when there is a tiff?
Ritwick: I also argue sometimes. And when I see my wife (actress Aparajita Ghosh Das) doing it better than me, I pipe down (everyone goes LOL).
t2: Mainak, you are yet to tie the knot. What was it like shooting the wedding scenes?
Mainak: When you are not married, everything looks nice. The thing that I found universal in marriage is there is beauty and colour, which I wanted to capture in a Bengali wedding. The colour in a wedding translates into marriage.
Sohini: The junior artistes were surprised when they saw that the couple were doing 15 rounds around the fire instead of seven!
t2: Sohini, after working in Bibaho Diaries, do you feel like getting married?
Sohini: Whatever desire I had of getting married is now going away!
Mainak: Rupadi, what was your reaction to us making Bibaho Diaries?
Rupa: You have shown what has been happening since time immemorial. Problems happen in a marriage, and then the people involved in the marriage sort it out in due course. Maybe people have become more busy now. Desires have increased. Social networking sites have cropped up. But at the end of the day, the story remains the same. The essence of marriage has remained the same. The young generation is connected to each other just like their parents or grandparents were.
Text: Arindam Chatterjee
Pictures: Pabitra Das
