In last Friday release, Saibal Mitra’s Chitrokar, she plays a stubborn, budding artist and a student of a renowned painter, played by Dhritiman Chaterji. Eager for off-the-beaten-track roles, Arpita Chatterjee is keen to explore the artiste in her in the second phase of her acting career. A t2 chat...
The last time you were in Calcutta was for Onir’s Hindi film Chauranga and now you’re back for Chitrokar (released on November 24). Are you interested only in oddball films?
Yes, it’s been a conscious decision since the beginning of my second phase as an actress with Avik’s (Mukhopadhyay) Ekti Tarar Khonje (2010). Though I don’t believe in segregating mainstream and art films, if you still insist I would say that mainstream Tollywood films don’t interest me anymore because the films being made for the past couple of years are all copies of south Indian films and I don’t support that and neither do I want to be a part of those. Besides, there aren’t many offers either.
Given that you are married to Prosenjit, few offers coming your way sounds a bit strange. Doesn’t he recommend you to filmmakers?
First of all, I married a person who by default is an actor. I didn’t get married to him because there would be a flow of films. I don’t look at my marriage in that way. Our marriage has never functioned that way. As it is, in our industry roles for actresses are limited. Also with time, offers are fewer for female actors. It’s not a very pleasurable experience to be an actress after a certain point. That is something I understood well in advance and that’s why I decided to become an entrepreneur (Arpita has set up Mydea 100, a company in Noida. They make audio-visual content for smart phones) simultaneously.
Don’t you miss being in the limelight or in the thick of things?
See, my reason for acting is not driven by gaining fame or earning a lot of money. I just wanted to be a performer and that’s how my association with acting began. Incidentally, I have multiple talent! (Laughs) I can sing, dance, act and I derive immense pleasure from all forms of performing arts and I do a fairly decent job in all of these. I am never satisfied with just acting in front of the camera. Life is an ongoing journey and I want to try different things. I am planning to do a theatre production again in a big way soon.
Do you watch current Bengali films?
Not really, since I don’t live in Calcutta anymore (Arpita lives in Delhi). I watch films on Netflix and the recent ones are not available. But I follow a routine of watching at least one or two films every day.
Kushali Nag
