I am waiting outside Prosenjit’s vanity van at Indrapuri Studio. The Tolly star, whose birthday is on September 30, is having lunch. “Just five minutes!” says one of his assistants posted at the door, with a smile. Having waited out numerous such ‘five- minute’ star promises — one stretched to five hours #JournalistLife — I smile back. I hang around for a while and decide to go grab a bite when the door swings open. Prosenjit is ready. In five minutes flat! The adda begins... 

So what did you have for lunch?
I get boiled vegetables and fish from home. No salt, nothing. I have an almost oil-free diet... a spoonful of oil, spread across all my meals. So, no taste. (Smiles) I take just a couple of minutes to have my lunch. 

Do you really like such bland food?
I have been on this diet for the last four years. Before that, I used to eat at irregular intervals. Now I eat every two hours. My food and gym timings are here (points to a chart pinned on a soft board in his vanity van. No, we are not allowed to take a close-up!) They (film directors) have to plan my schedule around that. 

Did something trigger this change?
With time and age.... I consulted doctors and my trainers. I have a lot of supplements. I am lifting super-heavy weights. I don’t want to bulk up. I want to be lean and sculpted. Now I can open my shirt and stand! I like the athletic structure in particular. You have to think with the times. Ten years back, it was different. Now, a lot has changed. All the current Bolly stars are lean. That is the trend. I do yoga at least five days a week. 

So, no six pack?
No, no, I don’t want get into packs! They are tough to get without steroids, honestly speaking. Getting one or two packs is not important. The fact is if I open my shirt, I should look good. That’s it. 

You look way younger than a lot of actors who are younger than you…
I met Abir (Chatterjee) that day and he was like, we have to go on a diet and exercise NOW! ‘If Bumbada can, why can’t we?’ I believe discipline is important. The profession we are in, we are always stressed and we work hard. I like to avoid stress and exercise is the best thing that can beat stress. It’s not that I don’t go for late-night parties, but I will go according to my own time and come back according to my own time. At the end of the day, the camera lens captures everything. If you stay up, the lens will capture it. If you are upset, the lens will capture that too. I honour the lens. When I am in front of the camera, I try to be honest and there should be nothing else in my mind apart from work. I always say on my birthday that aami ekta bochhor egoley, aami ekta bochhor ke komabo. I don’t know how long I am going to live. For that I need to take care of myself.   

Can you feel the difference?
My face! It’s become more chiselled. Jeet was saying, ‘Bumbada you don’t have a double chin! What do you do?!’ When elderly people tell me ‘Tomar gaal ta dhuke jaachhey’, I cannot explain to them that when you go for hard-core gymming, it will show on your face. I cannot avoid it. I am on that trip. I wear 28-inch waist jeans. Can you imagine?! There shouldn’t be any flab in my body. That’s my goal. 

Do you feel different?
Yes! Energy. I came first in a race organised by Artistes’ Forum sometime back. I have learnt that you have to save your energy. I climb the four storeys of my house. There’s a lift, but I don’t use it.

In your head, what’s your age?
I try to be 21, but it’s around 30-35. It’s also because of my maturity. And this industry has turned me into a 64-year-old! Forget about my age and career. They have made me a father figure, which I am not! 

How old do you feel when you look at your son Trishanjit? Do you want to be his…
(Cuts in) Competitor? I wear his tees, trackpants and jackets. I love thinking young. And I walk like that too! If I have a late call time, I’ll start walking on the pathway outside my house. I cannot sit and talk. 

What has Trishanjit taught you?
Football and swimming! He is a fantastic soccer player and swimmer. When he is in Calcutta, he goes to the gym with me. And he has taught me about apps....

Your window to youth is your son?
Yeah and also my surroundings. Everyone in my office is around 25-30 years old max. My relationship with them is not that of a boss. It’s good to tap the youth because we are in a shell, but I need to know what is in and out. They’ll have new ideas… might be fantastic, might be ridiculous, but they will express it. I don’t appreciate the know-it-all attitude. I am very much on social media. It’s important because that is the only way you can interact with your fans today. We used to get fan letters…

Was that better?
Social media has its plus and minus. I still love fan letters. A letter is like a novel. Social media is like an ad and a letter is like a feature film. I’ll talk to my son on WhatsApp or phone, but with a letter you can express the entire feeling. It’s like a poem. We read e-books, but when you visit someone’s house, your eyes will automatically go to the bookshelf. That has a different charm and it will never die. 

What do you like about social media?
We are not the kind who keep the news channels on 24x7, but there is a lot happening worldwide. It’s my window to the world. I follow more of sports and my industry. Passing judgement is not my job. Of course, you can express yourself, but there has to be a balance… how much of it can I say publicly? 

So, you are not critical on a public platform...
No, no, no. If I don’t like something, I will call him or her. 

Is that being politically correct?
May be, but you have to be politically correct and that’s a part of my profession. It has become my habit not to say things. Producers come and ask me, how much does this colleague of yours charge? I say I don’t know. That’s not my area. I can tell you how much I charge. I can say if the work is good or bad, but who’s charging how much… why do I need to know? I am a zero gossip kind of a person, especially when it comes to my industry. I will not hear it. I can guide them, but I am not there to comment. 

So, no camps?
I am for everybody. Simple!

Isn’t this political-correctness a strain?
Not at all. I am very happy. I can sleep! I haven’t needed any support system till date. The day I feel a little less tired, I run 20-25 laps around the pathway before dinner. Then I take a steam bath, have dinner, watch a film and go to sleep. 

Do you confide in anyone? 
The problem for the last four-five years is that I don’t have anybody to confide in if I have a problem… should I do this or not? That I used to do only with Ritu (Rituparno Ghosh). Today, everybody comes to me. Eighty per cent of the time, I am talking about somebody else’s problem. But that’s a blessing. I love doing that. 

But when you are in a dilemma?
Nowadays, it becomes a little difficult. I go by my gut feeling. 

Did you know?
• Prosenjit has to watch a film every day... any language. “With Trishanjit, it has to be Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan or superhero films.”
• His jeans waist size is 28!
• He loves wearing dhoti kurtas. “I love traditional clothing, the Chokher Bali (inset) type.” 
 

Does it always work?
If I am honest, I don’t bother whether it will work or not. What will I lose? I am not losing my son or my wife or my friends. I might be losing name, fame, money. I take my decisions and 99 per cent I am right. I believe when you lose something, you also gain something. My motive now is not to be a superstar. What I need to be is a good man… sensible. That is enough for me. 

Was it different a few decades back?
Of course! Fifteen years back the focus was different. It was career. First it was to get to the top and then stay there. Today also, I want to be on top, there is no doubt about it, but those challenges are not there. 

But stardom is addictive. Do you think of a day when there won’t be any stardom?
I don’t feel invincible. Till date when I see good regional cinema, I tell my industry people that we can do much better. I am a fighter. I am not someone who will think, ‘I have a car, a house, my family is secure and that’s the end’. I love to take risks because that gives me energy and it gives me more space to run and to prove. I was a star and in the last 10 years, people have also recognised me as an actor. I have to see things from the perspective of the audience and then decide what I should do. It’s not that I cannot do a song-and-dance-action film. I can do it better than everybody else because I have stayed fit, but when it comes to cinema, I want to do a different kind of cinema. The song-and-dance-action films are for others now. I need to build another image, which is going to stay for another 20 years. I have started doing it for the last eight-nine years. Let me keep that aura intact. Only then will people remember you. 

If Prosenjit is in the audience, which Prosenjit would Prosenjit love to watch — the star or the actor?
They are like twins. This Prosenjit has no value without that Prosenjit. When I walk into a corporate office today, they stand up and say, ‘You are doing great work’... say in a Moner Manush or a Jaatishwar. You cross Howrah, and you’ll see my audience who want me to do something keora, they will ask me do something from Amar Sangi.... I still draw 40,000 people at functions. That is my Amar Sangi, Pratibad, Sasurbari Zindabad audience. In Calcutta, Prosenjit is different; once he crosses Howrah, he has another image. Everybody has a roadmap. This is mine. 

You cannot choose between the two...
Both are important. 

You are trying to stay relevant with the times. Is Amitabh Bachchan an inspiration for you?
Of course! He is a big inspiration. He has seen everything... success and failure... came back with a TV show.... When we talk about Deewaar, we know his dialogues. When we see a film like Piku, we still love him. Or, Soumitra Chatterjee for that matter.... 

Is Trishanjit’s opinion on what kind of cinema you should do now important?
By the time he started understanding cinema, I had switched on to a different genre. He enjoys my Bikram Singha and Pratibad... Kakababu. He was around six-seven and we were crossing Priya cinema and he said, ‘Baba’r chhobir shamney ki line!’ His mom (Arpita) said, for the last 30 years, people have queued up to watch this man! 
He (Trishanjit) is a big fan of Salman Khan. He loves to sit down for adda with Dev. He loves to watch Dev’s song and dance, and Jeet’s fight.... The kind of films I do now, for an 11-year-old... he’ll understand when he is a little older. We call him Salman Khan. For him, Salman is the best actor in the world. His room is full of pictures of Messi and Salman. He has just one dream... if I can direct a film with Salman! I tell him, ‘Had I done Maine Pyar Kiya, your Salman Khan wouldn’t have happened!’ [Prosenjit was offered the male lead in Maine Pyar Kiya, which he turned down.] I’ll see to it that he meets Salman. He dreams of Salman. He’ll watch his films 11-12-14-18 times. 

He gauges your stardom?
He understands that his father is a respectable person, but it was a conscious decision that Arpita and I took of sending him to a boarding school. My reflection should not fall on him. When we go to Quest (mall), he’ll say, ‘Baba is VVIP, Ma is VIP’. He shows that he is not enjoying the attention, but he’s the one who’s enjoying it the most! (Laughs) 

Have you ever thought that one day you might just walk away from films?
It could be. I don’t know. 

Do you have a back-up plan?
Till today, there’s nothing in my life except cinema. I don’t think I will be able to survive without cinema. Direction will be a new challenge. Why is Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cinema getting so much exposure? They are so many remakes. If I can sit in Calcutta and watch a good Marathi film, then why will they not see a good Bengali film sitting in Maharashtra? You should open up. I want to take up that challenge.... Whatever I have learnt in the last 30 years, I want to take it to the national level and I am sure I can do it. 

THROUGH THE T2 LENS

Pictures: Pabitra Das and Rashbehari Das