Post Jubilee, Prosenjit Chatterjee to turn director, reveals idea is brewing in his head ‘very strongly’: ‘I am fully into it’

In an interview with indianexpress.com, Prosenjit said the idea to turn a filmmaker is “brewing in my head, very, very strongly.” “Maybe not this year because it will be too early, because when you do Indian cinema, it takes time. But yes, I am into it fully. What do I do now (at this stage of my career), maybe I’ll do a Jubilee or something that good. But what I can only do cinema, so I’ll keep doing just that.”

The superstar is on a roll with three projects already released in 2023— Bengali romantic thriller Kaberi Antardhan, Atanu Ghosh’s Shesh Pata and the acclaimed Vikramaditya Motwane helmed series Jubilee. Prosenjit earned immense praise for his turn as the studio head honcho Srikant Roy, a ruthless, ambitious but vulnerable movie maker passionately in love with cinema.

 

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Though Jubilee got Prosenjit a lot of love—and wider acclaim— a section also felt that Hindi filmmakers in the past weren’t able to tap his potential the way Motwane did with the series. Prosenjit, who made his Bollywood debut in 1990 with David Dhawan’s Aandhiyan, said that won’t be completely fair to say as even he didn’t “push” himself that much back then.

Prosenjit said today he is at a creative high and wants to channel that energy even as a director with his film, which should be nothing less than spectacular. “An actor has to calculate at every stage (what kind of films he wants to do). I did that in my Bangla career otherwise I wouldn’t have survived it for 30-40 years.

“But I never calculated that way for my Hindi career. For example, when Aandhiyan (1990 David Dhawan directorial) happened, I didn’t pre-plan it. Pahlaj ji (Nihalani, producer) told me, ‘Let’s make a film with you. You are a star material.’ Nothing was pre-planned. But today, I am planning to direct a film. I’m a student of cinema and today language is not a barrier. I should come out with something great as a filmmaker also.'”

The actor said today, people from Hindi film industry are ready to approach him with a variety of roles because they have seen that he is not image conscious. “They understand that I am a star, but at the same time I can do a Shesh Pata and all kinds of roles. I want to do strong roles and am never bothered with any image. That’s exactly how I worked in Bengal also. I don’t want to prove anything to anyone,” he signed off.