mid-day 44th anniversary special: Bumba Da, and his new ‘baadi’ in Bambai!

Bhalo kore bujhte paari bolte paari na Can understand Bengali canrsquot speak itrdquo is how we break ice with actor Prosenjit Chatterjee lovingly known as Bumba Da over a Zoom call because hersquos on a shoot outside Mumbai Hersquos suitably impressedAlthough it must be said such rudimentary understanding of Bangla or Bengal for that matter can barely equip you to grasp the superstardom of Chatterjee 61 from Kolkata For whom Mumbai is now the new home ldquoIrsquove bought a place in Andheri got a car driver the full setuprdquoYounger Hindi audiences have lately discovered him in Vikramaditya Motwanersquos series Jubilee Prime Video as the fit dapper Srikant Roymdasha Don Corleonelike patriarch of the Hindi film industry modelled on Bombay Talkiesrsquo Himanshu Rai Or as Jaideb Sen based on crime journalist J Dey in Hansal Mehtarsquos Scoop Jubilee his OTT debut was his 349th production mostly as the leadIn the rsquo90s when Chatterjee was a young lead actor in Bengal and producer Pahlaj Nihalani ldquoa starmaker in Bollywoodrdquomdashhaving launched careers of the likes of Chunky Panday Neelam Suniel Shetty Divya Bharti GovindamdashNihalani sat the latter down once to introduce ChatterjeeldquoChi Chirdquo he told Govinda Bollywoodrsquos hero no 1 ldquoWhat are we even doing Just look at this boymdashhersquos already crossed 200 filmsrdquo A oneman industry alrightSince his breakout hit in Bengali cinema with Sujit Guharsquos Amar Sangi 1987mdashthe song lsquoChirodinirsquo from its soundtrack is an anthem in Bengal still the film ran for over 75 weeks in theatresmdashChatterjee says he would ldquoopen around 12 16 to 18 films a year in Bengal In one of the years I had 22 releasesrdquoNihalani first got him over to BombayBollywood in 1990 Chatterjee recalls ldquoPahlaj ji had produced a Bengali film with me During the shoot hersquod tell me about what a star I am Those were the days you knowmdasharrey tu fight bhi itna accha karta hai dance aur romance bhi look good you fight dance romance so wellrdquoHis Hindi debut hence followed ldquoA grand launch party was held at Hotel SunnSand with all Bollywood biggies attending It was a big Bombay partyrdquo Nihalanirsquos film Aandhiyaan directed by David Dhawan also marked the return of the living legend Mumtaz whorsquod by then moved to AmericaMumtaz played Chatterjeersquos mother in the movie available on YouTube which is a bizarrely Oedipal love story if you may between mom and son with young Chatterjee as an overgrown schoolkid also literally dancing around trees with MumtazThat said Chatterjee recalls ldquoI got lots of offers from Bombay producers People say I wasnrsquot pushy But I was already working 2022 hours a day in Kolkata and booked for the next three years Also I am an emotional man I knew my stardom came from the work of great many Kolkata directors technicians coactorshellip I had to be with themrdquoChatterjee is quick to point out on his own ldquoItrsquos not about being in your comfort zone Itrsquos playing to your strengths to get to where you want Itrsquos the same with stars from the South Look at Kamal Haasan jimdashafter Ek Duuje Ke Liye 1981 he didnrsquot shift base to Mumbai Irsquove learnt from my seniorsrdquoWhich is in contrast to female Bengali stars in Bollywood ldquoOh theyrsquove always ruled There is the concept of the lsquoBangali beautyrsquo But theyrsquore also great actorsldquoI was speaking to Moushumi Chatterjee Di recently Or you take Sharmila Tagore ji Jaya BhaduriBachchan ji changed the pattern of acting when she did films like Guddi 1971ldquoPeople wanted to see Dharam Dharmendra ji and Rakhee Gulzar ji togetherrdquo Evidently the male equivalent of the Bengali beauty standard in Bollywood have been Punjabi heroesChatterjee himself is hardly new to Bollywood or Mumbai though His association goes back to early rsquo60s when his father the popular Hindi film actor Biswajeet moved to the city Biswajeet owned a bungalow on 7th Road in Juhu and now lives in a swanky apartment nearby Hersquos been in Juhu for ldquo60 years sincerdquoChatterjee recalls ldquoIn 1963 when I was about five or six along with my mother sister and paternal grandfather we shifted to Bombay as wellldquoI started schooling here Only that my grandfather developed health issues The water didnrsquot suit him In those days the bahu daughterinlaw had to take care of the sasur fatherinlaw since my grandmom was no more And so we moved back to KolkatardquoThe parents subsequently divorced Ever since he says his father has been ldquoa guest in Kolkata and Irsquove been a guest in Mumbaimdashvisiting every year during summer holidays when I was a childrdquoThe Bombay of his growing up years doesnrsquot sound too far apart from his period piece Jubilee ldquoIrsquove played on Dilip Kumar Sahabrsquos lap I think Biswajeet ji and Saira Banu ji were doing a film together Theyrsquod go out for late dinners Dilip Sahab liked to stay in Hersquod asked to leave the bachcha the kid behind with himldquoWe spent a lot of time in Shakti Samanta Darsquos house And with Raj Kapoor ji In fact Raj ji and my father shared their birthday December 15 They would call each other up and plan their parties accordinglymdashRaj ji would host his on Dec 14 and my dad on Dec 15 and alternate it the following yearrdquoWhat does he miss from that Bombay Itrsquos an easy question clearly ldquoOh the studios the peculiar smell of raw stock and the makeup room where everyone gathered Spot boys that belonged to the studios then who knew everybodyrsquos personal tastesrequirementsldquoThe huge shooting floors that could capture so much depth on camera You can tell from the films of the timemdashthere were no green screens and CGI then Vikram Motwane captured that really well in Jubilee I know that technology has changed and we donrsquot need such studios anymore But those were our temples RK Studio in particularrdquoRK is quite close to where wersquore speaking to him over Zoom Itrsquos just turned into a posh apartment block ldquoI know I feel something inside me when I see itrdquoSurely itrsquod be the same with similar establishments in Kolkata The other thing peculiarly common to Mumbai and Kolkata film sets regardless is the use of the endearment lsquoDadarsquo elder brother for all males in the technical crewmdashlsquoSpot Dadarsquo lsquoMakeup Dadarsquo etcThe lsquodadarsquo in Mumbai sets of course comes from Marathi Which Chatterjee reckons has far more in common to Bengali cinema than one recognises ldquoFor years Irsquove been great friends with people in the Marathi film industry They share their works with me I share mine Our storytelling styles are quite similarrdquoHis reasoning is simple ldquoCinema bears its roots in literature and theatre that are strong in both Bengali and Marathi cultures Irsquom sure other cultures too But in Bengali cinema 49 out of 50 actors come from stage As with Marathi Likewise both Marathi and Bengali languages have deep bases in literaturerdquoAnd howrsquos Mumbai and Kolkata different outside the set of course given that the former is also now his home base Culturally in the absence of the lsquoaddarsquo he says ldquoIn Kolkata if yoursquove worked for a few hours itrsquos fine for you to go lsquoOkay bahut ho gaya kaam enough work Aadha ghanta adda maarte hain letrsquos chill for half an hourldquoItrsquos impossible to do that in Mumbai People interpret this trait differently as lethargy perhaps But I donrsquot see it that wayrdquoAlso he adds ldquoBoth cities are changing a lot Look at the nightlife Kolkata has gone ahead of Mumbai in that regard In Mumbai I have started seeing streets clearing up after a point in the night On Park Street in Kolkata it feels like Christmas all year People have really started enjoying life a lot there especially after the pandemicrdquoChatterjeersquos own social scene in Mumbai it seems starts and ends with Hotel SunnSand The Juhu hotel known as an adda for rsquo70s Bollywood especiallymdashyou can watch it in practically every other film of the eramdashthat Chatterjee confesses has been his home away from home all alongldquoIrsquove been coming to SunnSand for the last 30 years Now that I live in Andheri West my gym is still in that hotel And if Irsquom free for even an hour I just drive up for a cup of coffee there My father had a suite in the hotel I think for a year and half when he got his break in Bombay with Bees Saal Baad 1959 I had a suite for quite a long time toordquoWhich is true for several stars of the bygone era the likes of Raaj Kumar Dev Anand who used to have an earmarked yearround staycation suite in the seaside hotel that appears boutique only by current standards Waiters and oldtimers often point to those suites as city landmarks of sorts Which one was his ldquo402rdquo Okay his Bangla fans got a shrine in MumbaiChatterjee comes across as a creature of habitmdashsomething that might show in a lot of his mainstream works that rightly kept the Bengali film industryrsquos fire burning all through the decades that hersquod fuel it with dozenodd movies a year There was a switch of sorts he reckons in his head therefore his careermdashldquofor about 1012 years nowrdquoIts genesis lies in the much loved middleoftheroad director Rituparno Ghosh 19632013 who offered him a ldquospecial appearance just two daysrsquo workrdquo in the decidedly artsy Unishe April 1994Chatterjee says ldquoHe lit up a matchstick that was inside me Until then I was making films for the audience and I love them If they donrsquot exist neither do I But while I am a star I have to be the actor as wellrdquoChatterjee worked with Ghosh for nine films Dosar 2006 we tell him is our favourite The big one of course was Ghoshrsquos Chokher Bali where he starred with Mumbairsquos Aishwarya RaiHe argues ldquoYou know people these days talk of lsquopanIndiarsquo films But Ritu Da and Mani Ratnam from Chennai have been making them forever When Ratnamrsquos Roja 1992 or Chokher Bali released we just watched them in theatres no matter where we were in the country We never called them lsquopanIndiarsquo films did werdquoWorking with artistic directors like Buddhadeb Dasgupta Gautam Ghosh and others Chatterjee says he began travelling to international film festivals ldquoWhen I went to Toronto first I realised this is a completely new world and they should equally look forward to my filmsldquoThe idea is to win a new audience every day In Mumbai now itrsquos gratifying when people who donrsquot know me from my past works come up to me in the gym or when Irsquom outrdquoAnd thatrsquos been his North Star since Especially when he was offered Jubilee before the pandemic ldquoI havenrsquot ever said yes to offers from Mumbai right awayAs with Dibakar Banerjeersquos Shanghai 2012 when he came to meet me in Kolkata Or Vikram Motwane I want to be convinced about why they want to cast me first When Hansal Mehta called me for Scoop I just knew it was the sort of character that was missing from my repertoirerdquoAlso this time on Chatterjee could sense a wider tectonic shift taking place among both the audiences and the Hindi film industry ldquoItrsquos become possible for actors from across India to perform together And itrsquos not just about filmsrdquo Meaning the braver new world of OTTs as wellHence Chatterjee bought himself a permanent address in Mumbai ldquoI had done it before the pandemic But of course I couldnrsquot move in thenrdquoAnd hersquos also clearcut about his professional goal ldquoI want to do big productions in Bombay bearing in mind our treasure of Bengali literature that our forefathers had so beautifully tapped into as well Having been a student of cinema for 40 years I want to direct nowrdquo Chatterjee revealsAs for Mumbai and his acting career the most legendary story about him is how hersquod turned down Maine Pyar Kiya offered to him by the Barjatyas before the role went to Salman Khan ldquoWell I donrsquot like talking about it The fact is the film gave Indian cinema its hugest starrdquoEvidently not the one who enjoys looking back much Chatterjee is only excited for whatrsquos ahead ldquoDavid Dhawan was the first person to call me after he watched Jubilee you know He just went lsquoYaar tu phaad diya yaar woh Bollywood debut Aandhiyaan ka hero nahin hai tu abhi Killed it you donrsquot seem like the hero from Aandhiyaan anymorerdquo Well hersquos also a Mumbaikar nowMumbai meri jaanLove about Mumbai From the film industry perspective itrsquos a city that hugely respects talent They shower you with love and hugs for your body of work aloneHate about Mumbai Honestly Traffic Itrsquos gone to another level now and it scares me Irsquom sure things will improve with the metroExpectations from Mumbai I hope in the next four to five years Mumbai will give me a home for my creative expressionmdashan intellectual shelter as a student of cinema to reinvent myselfDid Mumbai live up to it Especially after Jubilee Irsquod say yesWill it remain forever home As it is itrsquos my mother who connects me to Kolkata and my father actor Biswajeet to Mumbai And now I have a home here as well