Director Srijit Mukherji and actor Parambrata Chatterjee graced the first-ever SCREEN LIVE held in Kolkata. At the event, they extensively discussed their latest film Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei, and addressed the decline of mainstream Bengali cinema. They emphasized the importance of its revival, noting that the survival of parallel cinema is closely tied to the success of mainstream films. Talking about mainstream Bengali cinema, Parambrata expressed how makers shouldn't focus on remaking South films, instead make meaningful cinema that is based in Bengal. He said, "We have stopped focusing on mainstream commercial Bengali cinema. If mainstream cinema in any industry doesn't work, then it is very difficult to make any other kind of film. Because the audience size should be that big that you can eat out of that. Our kind of cinema (alternative cinema) thrives on surplus. If there is no steady inflow, then there is no surplus. There is an alienation that happened in 2011. While Bengali cinema was seeing a resurgence of sorts through filmmakers like Srijit da, Kaushik Ganguly and others, who were making middle road Bengali films, the industry unexpectedly shifted away from making big massy Bengali entertainers." He added, "Very loosely and carelessly made South remakes were dished out to the masses. Audience didn't react to that very well as they found the same films being dubbed in Hindi and being aired on national channels, so they didn't want to go back and watch these cheap Bengali remakes of South films. The audience size of Bengali cinema kept reducing. Big chunk of West Bengal doen't watch Bengali cinema because they feel nobody cares about them. So, it is important that mass entertainers are made in Bengali cinema and that they fetch money so that other kind of cinema can be made." During the session, Srijit Mukherji talked about Shotyi Bole Shotyi Kichhu Nei and shared how he managed to direct 12 prolific actors in one film. He said, "My job was to get and match their dates. It was also a challenge to make them do rehearsals. They are professionals who don't do rehearsals and some are even against the concept of rehearsals because it takes away the spontaneity of their performance. But to convince them and make sure that the coffee comes on time was my responsibility." The session will be available for viewing on the YouTube channel of The Indian Express and SCREEN from 8 pm today. The SCREEN LIVE event was presented by Lenskart with venue partner The Bhawanipur Education Society College, travel partner ixigo, fitness partner Growfitter, beverage partner Coca Cola and mobility partner Abhibus. Srijit Mukherji's collaboration with Prosenjit Chatterjee catapulted him into the spotlight. His fifth movie, Jaatishwar, earned four National Awards at the 61st National Film Awards. He went on to win the National Film Award for Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay for his sixth film, Chotushkone, at the 62nd National Film Awards. Parambrata Chatterjee has primarily worked in Bengali cinema, starring in acclaimed films such as Bhalo Theko (2003), Baishe Srabon (2011), Sold (2014), Kadambari (2017), and Anukul (2017). He made his Hindi film debut in Vidya Balan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Kahaani and later appeared in notable projects like Pari (2018), Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi (2019), and Bulbbul (2020). Since its inception in 1951, SCREEN has been a significant voice in Indian entertainment. The iconic film magazine made its return in a digital format in October. Following its revival, SCREEN LIVE hosted a stellar lineup of celebrities, including Shraddha Kapoor, Kartik Aaryan, Shahid Kapoor Vijay Varma, Rajkumar Hirani, Bobby Deol, Sunny Deol, Sharmila Tagore, Ali Fazal, Richa Chadha, Tamannaah Bhatia, Jimmy Shergill, and Avinash Tiwary, among others.
