It’s an early morning in late October and the office para at Dalhousie is yet to wake up. The crew of Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay-Nandita Roy’s Praktan is setting up the camera near St. Andrew’s Kirk for a shoot with Prosenjit and Rituparna Sengupta.

Shibu, a hard taskmaster according to Rituparna, has kept the call time at 6.30am.

Prosenjit, a stickler for punctuality, is sharp on time. Getting off his white Land Rover at Dalhousie in white tee and blue denims, he asks Shiboprosad, “Shob ready toh?” 

Rituparna arrives five minutes later, long curls having replaced her bangs, in a red tunic and white palazzos. 

For the next five minutes, both Prosenjit and Rituparna get busy looking into the mirror and fixing their make-up. 

Then Prosenjit walks up to Rituparna and stretches out his hand. As they shake hands, Rituparna greets him, ‘Hi, how are you?’ Prosenjit flashes his trademark smile. Shiboprosad looks amused! 

Dalhousie is slowly filling with traffic, and curious onlookers have started milling the spot overtaken by the camera, lights and make-up vans. Excited chatter like “Oi dekh Prosenjit! Ota Rituparna!” is floating in as the stars concentrate on the job at hand. 

In Praktan, Prosenjit plays an explorer, Ujaan, who conducts guided tours across Calcutta; 
Rituparna is Sudipa, a conservation architect and a tourist in the city. For this scene, Ujaan is leading some people — which includes Sudipa — to some of the Calcutta landmarks, and the group has made a stop at Dalhousie. 

“I wake up early even though I go to bed late at night. I remember going for morning walks as a kid in the Lakes sometimes. But now it’s impossible. Look how so many people have gathered! But thanks to Praktan, I’m experiencing an early morning on the Calcutta streets,” Prosenjit tells t2. 

The first shot of the day has gotten over after almost five retakes. Blame the Calcutta traffic. 

With a camera in hand, Rituparna goes click-click as she trails Prosenjit. The Tolly pair who have got back together after 14 years seem to hit it off. Prosenjit cracks one joke after another, leaving Rituparna in splits.

“We are thorough professionals and like always, we enjoy working with each other. So what if we haven’t worked together after a point?” asks Rituparna. 

After a 10-minute break, the location shifts to the lane opposite GPO. The crowd swells... some recognise them and wave. Rituparna waves back at everyone, so does Prosenjit. All in a day’s work. 

Kushali Nag
Pictures: Rashbehari Das