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| (L-R) Bonny, Ritika, Anup Sengupta and Prosenjit at Prosenjit’s Ballygunge residence. (Below) Prosenjit with Ritika and Bonny. Pictures: B. Halder Pictures: B. Halder |
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There’s a reason why Prosenjit is eager to promote Borbaad. The film’s leading man Bonny is director Anup Sengupta’s son and actor-director Sukhen Das’s grandson. And Prosenjit goes back a long way with the family. As he revealed during a t2 chat at his Ballygunge residence with Team Borbaad and Anup.
Prosenjit: This adda was my idea because after Mahanayak Uttam Kumar’s death there was a big void, it was declared that it’s all over for the Bengali film industry, when only one man — Sukhen Das — made films one after the other and all of them were hits.... Singha Duar, Maan Abhimaan. He was himself an actor and became a maker and very few people remember that his films became the turning point for the Bengali film industry. He was looked upon as god at that time. He has made a lot of contribution to this industry. So what’s the connection of Sukhen Das in this chat? Well, Piya (Sengupta) is Sukhenda’s daughter, Anup’s wife and Bonny’s mother. I know Anup since the time I was a struggler. Anup was a chief assistant director at that time and then became a director and I started working in his films. Together we’ve done some 15 films.
Anup: 16, I guess....
Prosenjit: All the 15 films were super-duper hits. I don’t think you’ll find another hero-director pair with 15 films one after the other. Most films did silver and golden jubilees! Swapanda (Saha), Sujit (Guha), Anup, Hara (Haranath Chakraborty), Anjanda (Chowdhury) were trendsetters. All of them collected their money from the theatres. At that time our business focus were the theatres. All our profit and loses were centred around the collection from the theatres. So all these directors have contributed to the industry. And Anup is definitely an important director.
I am very happy that his next generation has just started out as an actor, which is Bonnybabu. When he was four-five year old, I used to tell Anup, ‘Give me Bonny because he is hero material’. All I want to tell him is that there are two ways of staying put in this industry — one is when a hero gives two hit films and then doesn’t know where he is going, and another is to stay put for long and be patient. Bonny is too young, so is Ritika. Whatever may be the business of the film, ‘Bonny you have a responsibility because you have a legacy, we all know that Borbaad is a hit but it should not get into your head’. Raj Chakraborty has the potential to not follow any trend and make his type of films. He at least tries honestly. Bonny, you’ve seen both your dad and I have struggled together. You’ve seen my films become superhits and huge flops too. So you must know how to deal with it. I want you to work in this industry for another 15-20 years.
t2: Bonny and Ritika, it must be a huge thing that Prosenjit has taken an interest in your debut film…
Bonny: Bumba uncle SMSed me one day saying, ‘Bonny I saw the trailer and it looks amazing’ and said that he has a lot of expectations from me. He was very encouraging and my expectation from the film is now double!
Ritika: Most people have liked the film, hope more and more people watch it.
t2: Bonny and Ritika, what’s your favourite Prosenjit-Anup Sengupta film?
Bonny: Mama Bhagne and Poribaar, also Mayer Anchal. I cried while watching these films.
Ritika: I too loved Poribaar and among his recent films, I loved Autograph.
Anup: My only message to Bonny is that he should pick up the skills from Bumba about how to sustain for so long in the industry. Bumba has always helped people from the industry and encouraged newcomers. So, my son should imbibe all these from Bumba. It’s very rare that an actor has sustained for 34 years in Tollywood.
Bonny: Yes, Bumba uncle has set an exceptional example.
Prosenjit: It makes me sad these days when I see actors tweeting the collection of their films. We used to do a film, whether the film was hit or flop we would sit together and think of the next film. That should be the attitude, you have to think for the next. That’s my message to newcomers.
