Bumbada never misleads, he is very, very fair, balanced and responsible. And these qualities apply to his audience as well as to us... as a human being too he always inspires me — Arpita

After over a decade, Prosenjit and Arpita are looking forward to the release of a film where they star together, though not as a couple. Tollywood’s first couple talk about their professional and personal lives with t2...

All these years, you have had many offers trying to cast you together. What made you finally choose Raja Chanda’s Force?

Prosenjit: Normally when a husband and wife do a film together, they either play lovers or husband and wife. That’s very obvious. Arpita came on board after the script was complete. We felt she fit the bill. Arpita plays a very important character (of a school teacher) in Force. The thing is even if a real-life couple play a couple on reel, it may not work. In Force, there’s an unspoken bond between my character and Arpita’s. It’s a very emotional film and I thought if Arpita and I did the film, it would work. And she is a very good actress.

Arpita: Honestly, I didn’t know about the film until he told me about it and gave me the script to read.

Prosenjit: Yes, she wasn’t aware that I was brainstorming on Force at home!

Arpita: I went through the script, liked my character and of course I didn’t want to let go of the opportunity to share screen space with one of the finest actors of Tollywood, which is Bumbada (Prosenjit).

You don’t discuss scripts with each other at home?

Arpita: Not at all.

Prosenjit: Usually, we don’t discuss work. Unless we get stuck somewhere.

Having spent 10-12 years together we respect each other a lot. We are friends and we have a responsibility towards each other and our son. In the last two-three years we have become very transparent with each other. We don’t interfere in each other’s lives. Now whatever we are doing, it is for our son. There’s no other equation between us — Prosenjit

So both of you come to know about each other’s work through the newspapers?

Arpita: Yes!

Prosenjit: Not always.

Arpita: Always! See, for the past year and a half, I have rarely been in Calcutta. It is a very conscious decision that we’ve taken — to behave like professionals in the workplace.

Prosenjit: Sometimes I tell her about a film I am doing… so that kind of discussion happens...

What do you discuss over dinner?

Prosenjit: We don’t discuss each other’s films. We hardly get the time to talk about ourselves, about the family, about my son (Trishanjit). So whenever we get time to sit and talk, our topic of discussion is our son. But yes, we do sit together and watch a good film.

Arpita: Yes, the only thing that we do together! (Laughs out loud)

Prosenjit: Yes, we love cinema. Whenever Arpita watches a good film, she comes and gives me the DVD. I too do the same.

Arpita: Yes, that’s one common thing between the two of us. We love watching films.

Which is the last film you watched together?

Arpita: Lots.... Every alternate day we watch something. We watched Haider and Chotushkone back to back.

And which did you like more?

Arpita: From where is this comparison coming?

Prosenjit: No, no, it’s not a comparison. I liked Chotushkone more than Haider.

Over the years, how has your relationship matured?

Prosenjit: You mean how we’ve matured as individuals or our relationship?

Relationship…

Arpita: You mean when we married the relationship wasn’t mature?!

Prosenjit: No, I think it’s about understanding each other... understanding your family and your professional side needs patience. Now, at this stage in life, having spent 10-12 years together we respect each other a lot. We are friends and we have a responsibility towards each other and our son. The way we dealt with each other 12 years back was different. In the last two-three years we have become very transparent with each other. We don’t interfere in each other’s lives. Now whatever we are doing, it is for our son. There’s no other equation between us. Arpita respects me in a different way because as a professional I am senior to her and age-wise too I much senior. (Arpita rolls in laughter) You’ve seen me for so many years. It’s not that I am something with others and something else with my near ones. I have my own way of handling things. If someone falls sick at home I react....

Arpita: React is an understatement, isn’t it?

Prosenjit: (Laughs) Yes, an understatement!

Arpita: You’ll have to see him…

Prosenjit: To understand. (Arpita can’t stop laughing) I get very tense quickly. That’s because I am concerned about my family.

Arpita: Is it the right way to express concern?

Prosenjit: My problem is that I am always busy and I am not being able to spend the time that I am supposed to with my family. So all these things put together, I get very tense.

Arpita: He has got it from his mother (Ratna Debi). I have never seen his mother but I’ve heard that she too had this habit of getting tense.

Prosenjit: I am hyper only when Mishuk (nickname for Trishanjit) falls sick.

Arpita: Yes, he is not concerned about me.

Prosenjit: No, I am not too tense when you are away from Calcutta.

Arpita: Oh!

Arpita, is Prosenjit at home the same man that we know — gentle, patient and polite? Or is he a different person altogether?

Arpita: He is different from the way he deals with his fans. But to answer your question well, Bumbada never misleads, he is very, very fair, balanced and responsible. And these qualities apply to his audience as well as to us.

Prosenjit has changed himself professionally over the years. Now that you are working more, does he inspire you as an actor?

Arpita: First, I don’t agree with you that I am working more. I am not. I wasn’t in front of the camera for six years. But since the time I have started working, I have maintained the same pace. Not only as a professional, as a human being too he always inspires me. You can count me as one among the audience when it comes to inspiration. His discipline, sincerity towards work…

Prosenjit: Only towards work! (Smiles and looks at Arpita)

Arpita: Yes, only towards work, that’s what I am saying. Yes, that’s something that everyone should learn from him.

Bumbada, how do you look at this new Arpita? She has changed her look, she is more visible now...

Prosenjit: Yes, I told her the other day that my film is releasing but you are getting all the publicity in t2! (Laughs) I think what’s very good about Arpita is that when she takes up a work, she does a very good job of it. Otherwise, she is like Chhabi Biswas! Chhabi Biswas was an actor who didn’t like to push himself, he never wanted to wear a wig, moustache.... Vinod Mehra was a wonderful actor but he would come to the set and ask the director to chop some lines from his dialogue. Toh Arpita is like that. She is not a careerist.

Arpita: I never was.

Prosenjit: She loves her work. Had she been a careerist, she would have got national recognition a long time ago. Now she is not working to build four houses, we are happy as we are. She is enjoying her work and I am enjoying mine.

Arpita: Working is not a compulsion for me, that’s what he is trying to say.

When was the last time you fought with each other?

Prosenjit: Nowadays we don’t fight at all. I have become like Sri Chaitanya. (Raises his hands) We fight on BBM sometimes but eventually we have to talk because of Mishuk.

Arpita: I hardly get time to be with him. Thanks to Force, I am getting to spend some quality time with Bumbada!

Kushali Nag
Do you think Prosenjit and Arpita will have crackling chemistry on screen? Tell t2@abp.in