Prosenjit

With one more filmmaker (Swapan Ghoshal) announcing his plans to make a film on Byomkesh Bakshi, Rituparno Ghosh and his main man Prosenjit have decided to put their project on hold.

Rituparno tells t2 why he doesn’t want to be a part of the Byomkesh battle...

Why have you pushed back your Byomkesh project?

When I decided to make a Byomkesh film I knew that other filmmakers were interested in Byomkesh Bakshi too. But I didn’t know that all the films were happening at the same time. Not only announcements, shoots and releases were also being planned at the same time, creating a great deal of confusion which I think is avoidable. With so many Byomkesh Bakshis, I feel my film doesn’t have any independent existence. I had conceived Byomkesh from my passion for Bengali literature, but now I feel there’s a desperate rush to make a Byomkesh film within a deadline and for me passion has no deadline. I wanted to make a thriller, I didn’t want to be a part of a media thriller where there is constant speculation about who’s making a Byomkesh film with whom. It has become a game of one-upmanship more than healthy competition. So, Prosenjit and I have decided to bow out.

Rituparno Ghosh

So, when do you plan to make your Byomkesh film?

I had planned to shoot in summer and I find that most others will be doing the same. So I have decided to defer my project to a time when I will be comfortable working on it. I will definitely do Byomkesh and I will do it with Prosenjit, but in our own time.

But don’t you think the Rituparno-Prosenjit team would have been strong enough to stand out in the crowd?

I believe, and I am sure Prosenjit will also agree, that Byomkesh is a much bigger brand than either me or Prosenjit. We shouldn’t be judging Byomkesh with our brand value. In fact, Byomkesh is so precious to us that we have to make an exclusive, independent space for him. There’s no question of abandoning the project. I have got the rights of the stories we have decided to work on.

Don’t you think your and Prosenjit’s job will be tougher if an actor does establish himself as Byomkesh?

No, not at all. Why should it be so? It’s not as if Byomkesh hasn’t been played on screen. We have seen Uttam Kumar and Ajay Ganguly. We have also had Rajit Kapoor and Sudip Mukherjee on TV. Why Byomkesh, we have had three actors playing Feluda, if you include Shashi Kapoor. We never had any problems accepting all of them.

What do you think of Abir Chatterjee, Anjan Dutt’s Byomkesh?

Superb! I saw Abir in the still photographs that t2 carried (on March 14) and I think he is very convincing as Byomkesh. I also saw Subhrajit (Datta) in t2 yesterday and though I have never seen him on TV, as a filmmaker I feel he too has the potential to be a credible Byomkesh. I wish them both all the best.

Prosenjitspeak

On why they won’t do Byomkesh now...

So many Byomkesh films are happening this year and so we felt there’s no need for us to rush. We don’t want to go in for any kind of competition. Ritu had been thinking of making a Byomkesh film for a long time. It was I who finally pushed him to go ahead.

On being the best Byomkesh...

Just as several actors have played James Bond and some people like Sean Connery better than the rest, I too will try to reach such a stage with Byomkesh Bakshi. And I have full confidence in my director and our team.