MAMI 2024 Gala: Sharmila Tagore returns to Bengali cinema after 15 years, told Puratawn director Suman Ghosh ‘don’t be lenient with me’

I have a disadvantage, in the sense that when I think of an original story, I have the main protagonist in mind when I write it. When I thought about Nobel Chor (2011), I thought about Mithun Chakraborty. Mithun used to do Bengali films at the time, too. But he used to do very big budget commercial films like MLA Fatakesto (2006). I didn’t know whether Mithunda would agree or not. And he’s very expensive, whether my producer would agree or not. So, that becomes a challenge. But somehow that character or the actor gets stuck in my mind when I visualise the story. So, in this case, with Sharmila Tagore also, it was similar. And I always thought that she has aged so gracefully. But I knew that she was not doing films anymore, and especially Bengali films. So, it was under the carpet when I’d thought about the film four-five years ago. Then, after many, many years, she did the OTT series Gulmohar (2023). After that, I thought that, wow, so she is back to acting again. And I would give a lot of credit to Rituparna Sengupta also, who is our producer in this film and the co-actor with Sharmila. Rituparna told me that Sharmila Tagore has said she’s interested in doing good Bengali films, if the script and director are good. And I already had a script written with Sharmila Tagore’s face in mind. Then, I approached her.

The title of Puratawn, which is a Gala premiere screening and is the only Bengali film at MAMI this year, translates to The Ancient. Could you talk about the story?

Sharmila Tagore’s character is an 80-year-old lady who is going to celebrate her 80th birthday. Rituparna is her daughter whose husband is Indraneil Sengupta. They lead a very different, high-flying life. And Sharmila Tagore lives in their ancestral house in Konnagar (in West Bengal’s Hooghly district). She lives there with her maid. And Rituparna and Indraneil come to celebrate her 80th birthday. The film is about a birthday celebration but, after they come, a lot of the drama develops. There are certain misconceptions that they had about their mother and it is ultimately how they celebrate her birthday in a unique way. The story is about how the past haunts us or how do we accept the past in our lives, however dark that may be. And, moreover, all of our human existence is shaped by our past, that and issues like nostalgia are explored in this film.

And how was it to direct Sharmila Tagore on the set?

She was very diligent. When I went to her house in Delhi, when I was talking about the film, she had told me that, aamake chhedona kintu (don’t be lenient with me), even if you feel so, unless you are 100 percent happy. And that was amazing because at this age and this level of our career, that striving for perfection…we never realised that we were working with such a legend on the set.

But, all these things people say, she’s such a legend and it might be difficult to handle…I made my first documentary with Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, I worked with Soumitra Chatterjee on five films, I worked with Mithunda and Aparna Sen and Sabitri Chatterjee et al, I have realized that all of these big people, if they are convinced that I as a director am sincere and honest in my craft, they will give their 100 per cent to the films. If you Sharmila Tagore’s her feat of so many Satyajit Ray films and so many blockbuster Hindi films, one feels it to be really an accomplishment to work with her. So, that was there. But when on set, that was never a concern for me.

A still from 'Puratawn'.

How come an economics professor became interested in films and filmmaking.

So, I went to the US to do a PhD in economics at Cornell University. And there, I took courses in the films department at Cornell. That was my so-called training in filmmaking. I took a course on 16mm filmmaking and one on screenwriting.

What kind of cinema would you watch growing up in Calcutta?

When we were growing up, in the early 1980s, when colour television had just arrived, in 1982, we didn’t have television initially in our home. We used to go watch TV and movies at other people’s homes. That was quite a standard custom. On weekends, movies were shown on television, on Doordarshan channel. Bengali films on Saturdays and Hindi films on Sundays. Typically, Hindi films were not allowed in our house, so we watched the Bengali ones.

I used to watch Hindi films in the theatres. My parents only took us to watch Haathi Mere Saathi (1971). But I’d go watch Bengal films with my mother at the theatre. And in those days in Calcutta, theatres like Globe, New Empire, Minerva would show very good Hollywood movies, which the whole family went to watch.

When you’re young, the attraction was always for the actors, Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakravarti, who were big stars when we were growing up. But when I went to college (Presidency), we were introduced to the work of Satyajit Ray as a manner of religion in all Bengali customs. But to be very honest, apart from the Feluda series and a couple of other films like Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980), it was more of my parents who said that I should like Pather Panchali (1955) so I should watch it, and so I did. But definitely when I was in college, the role of a film director as auteurs, particularly Satyajit Ray, Aparna Sen, Goutam Ghose, Mrinal Sen, started intriguing me and therein started my quest for seeing a film director as more important than the stars we see on cinema.

A still from 'Puratawn'.

For your first film Podokkhep (2006), as a first-time filmmaker, how did you end up casting bigwigs Soumitra Chatterjee, Sabitri Chatterjee, Nandita Das?

Basically, while I was a student at Cornell, I had been an assistant to Goutam Ghose in one of his films, Dekha (2000), where Soumitra Chatterjee was the protagonist. It featured Anjan Dutt, Deboshree Roy. So, I was there on the set and there I got introduced to Soumitra. I think, we formed a sort of a connection then. And subsequently, five years later, when I wrote the script of Poddokhep (Footstep), I approached him. He loved the script. So, it was not from the blue.

My other target was Nandita Das, who was making international films then. When I approached her, she was very interested to work with Soumitra Chatterjee.  This was her third Bengali film after Mrinal Sen’s Aamar Bhuvan (2002) and Rituparno Ghosh’s Shubho Mahurat (2003). She had done Tapan Sinha’s film (Hindi five-in-one film Daughters of This Century, 2001).

You’ve mentioned that you considered Kaushik Basu, former Chief Economic Advisor to the Indian Government, as your mentor. What were his theories and philosophies that you abide by in your personal and professional life.

So, Kaushik Basu was one of my PhD advisors at Cornell. And, not necessarily about economics, but generally his viewpoint and his philosophy of life, he is truly a liberal. We interact on topics of economics, of course, because he was one of my advisors, but also on philosophy and literature. And he has a wonderful sense of humour. I come from a background of academics who jumped into filmmaking. When I made my first film, subsequently it got a couple of National Awards (in 2002, for Best Actor; and Best Feature Film in Bengali), and I was a full-time PhD student and then a full-time professor, so it was a bizarre step to jump from one strenuous profession and dive into another, in all of this process, Kaushik Basu has, in a sense, shepherded me and told me the pros and cons of every step that I was taking. It was my third year of PhD at Cornell, and I had started liking filmmaking more than economics and wanted to leave economics to join the film school there. I remember, he advised me that, ‘you have come to an Ivy League school like Cornell. Once you finish a PhD, tomay na khete peye more jete hobena (you won’t have to starve and die), you will have a very good pedigree. People all over the world just aspire to get into Cornell and you have almost finished your PhD. So, why don’t you jump into filmmaking later, after you’re done’. Even these more than two decades after my PhD, I’m still very much in contact with him and talk to him about films. He’s a widely read person and his curiosity spans from history to films and literature and anything under the sun, which really is enthusing. I think he’s very proud of what I have achieved.

Your documentary on economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian (2018), was how you married economics with films. How did you want to approach the subject?

I wanted to capture Amartya Sen not just as an economist but the human being in him. Of course, he is a Nobel laureate in economics and that was the main subject. But I did the same thing as I did with Aparna Sen’s documentary (Parama, 2024) also, I think these are exceptional human beings. For Aparna Sen, films or acting is one aspect of her, but there is a larger Renaissance quality in people like Amartya Sen and Aparna Sen, which I wanted to capture. The Amartya Sen documentary (The Argumentative Indian) captures his views on philosophy, politics and, of course, economics, his growing up, his worldview on Rabindranath Tagore, and everything. So, that was the main reason for making these two documentaries.

Aparna Sen in a still from a documentary on her, Parama: A Journey with Aparna Sen (2024), directed by Suman Ghosh.

There were cuts that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) demanded in the Amartya Sen documentary.

Initially, they had wanted four words (cow, Hindutva, Gujarat, Hindu India) to be muted. When I didn’t agree, it went into the tribunal (Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, or FCAT), and then CBFC chairperson Prasoon Joshi was there in the meeting and he was very nice and cooperative. He just loved the film and we had a lot of discussion on Amartya Sen. So, it was resolved that way.

What is the status of your film Aadhaar (2021) now, even after the CBFC had cleared it, the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), in a never-seen-before situation, demanded 28 cuts in the film. What happened after that?

Basically, it is in limbo now and we are still trying to pull all our strings, begging and pleading, let’s see. I was never given access to UIDAI. I requested my producers also. What I find very sad and depressing is that it was not a very hard-hitting film. I’m not a fool to make one. It is a funny satire film (starring Vineet Kumar Singh, Sanjay Mishra, Saurabh Shukla, Raghubir Yadav, Ekavali Khanna). And I did not know why the UIDAI was so sensitive on that. I was told by the producer that UIDAI wanted 28 cuts, so, then I wanted to meet them, the UIDAI guys to get a perspective myself and explain my point of view. But that was never allowed. But we still hope that it will come out someday. But if it comes out, people will get to see that there is nothing insensitive in the film.

Is censorship the reason why you are now steering clear of economic and political subjects for your cinema?

Absolutely. Because I don’t think we are in a situation where I can…but again, Aparna Sen’s documentary, if you will see that it is quite political and the CBFC was fine with it. It passed through censor. So, it is not that I will shy away from this because the documentary is extremely political. But again, I am not consciously going to make only political films.

What do you see the role of a filmmaker when responding to a zeitgeist: should he preserve himself and his art or be a voice for the marginalised?

See, I think that, of course, you can find your ways to tell the message even in such scenarios. For example, I will say that the film Newton (2017) by Amit Masurkar is a very political but it is not overtly hard-hitting. So, one should know how to navigate the situation. Even my film Aadhaar is not at all political.

How do you respond to Mithun Chakraborty getting the Dadasaheb Phalke award this year after the Padma Bhushan? You two have worked on two films: Nobel Chor (2011) and Kabuliwala (2024). People have been divided on either the award is too soon for him since he’s still acting or that he should have got it long back. What’s your take on this?

First of all, as you said, the argument that it’s too soon for him since he’s still acting is a unintelligent categorisation, why do people need to retire to get the award? For example, when Soumitra Chatterjee got the Dadasaheb Phalke, he was acting, he worked in three films with me only and many other seminal works, like Mayurakshi (2017), he did after getting the award.

I know that there is a sort of a tacit idea that one should get the Dadasaheb Phalke once they retire. But I think it was a very bold decision to award Mithun, which I respect. When I wrote on Facebook that two of my actors whom I am very close to, Soumitra and Mithun, have got the Dadasaheb Phalke, someone wrote ‘why are you mentioning them in the same breath?’. I don’t know whether it’s a Bengali trait that if you do very commercial Bollywood films, you are relegated slightly lower in hierarchical pedestals. Just because he did Disco Dancer (1982) or was such a popular commercial hero in Bollywood, that does not demean his contribution to Indian cinema. After all, this guy has got three National Awards. How many people have got three National Awards in the country?

He has repeatedly honed his or proved his mettle in so-called serious cinema also. And I believe that this distinction of arthouse films and commercial cinema, I think it’s to Mithun-da’s credit that he has successfully straddled those two fields. There are certain people who have done that, Mammootty, etc. But some people failed completely. Naseeruddin Shah was a failure in commercial films. One should say that he had tried very hard in Tridev (1989) and all, he just was not successful. He’s still one of the greatest actors in the country. I find that it’s a rarity that Mithunda can combine these two aspects and, so, it was a very bold decision and a lot of kudos to the committee who decided on this.

You are a Bengali film director today but you live abroad. Bengali cinema has had a long tradition of good cinema and film directors. The Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Tapan Sinha generation was followed by Aparna Sen and Rituparno Ghosh. And now there seems to be a crisis in, and criticism of, current Bengali commercial output. What would you say of the current output of Bengali cinema?

So, there are two strands of Bengali cinema always and even now, that is the genre you said of Ray, Ghatak and (Mrinal) Sen and Aparna Sen and Rituparno, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Goutam Ghose, etc., and parallelly, you see that Bengali cinema had a fantastic commercial presence also with Uttam Kumar-Suchitra Sen films, Soumitra Chatterjee-Aparna Sen films, with very famous directors, not just Tapan Sinha, but Tarun Majumdar, Agradoot (a group of Bengali film technicians such as Bibhuti Laha, Jatin Datta, Sailen Ghoshal, Nitai Bhattacharya, Bimal Ghosh, who worked together as a collective director), Arabinda Mukhopadhyay, and a host of others, so always, there was a co-existence of that, so in that sense, to be very honest, in both areas (commercial and parallel/arthouse) of Bengali films, there has been a big drop in quality. Nowadays, in an any international film festival, you’d hardly see a Bengali film. Even at MAMI, which I believe is the best film festival curated by fantastic programmers, mien is the only Bengali film this time. And this is a trait for many years. Of course, I can mention Aditya Vikram Sengupta, whose film has won National Award (Asha Jaoar Majhe/Labour of Love, 2015) as well as shown (Jonaki; Once Upon A Time in Kolkata) at international film festivals. He’s also edited Puratawn. He’s an exceptional talent. There was a film called Dostojee (by Prasun Chatterjee). There’s Sahaj Paather Gappo (Colours of Innocence, 2016) by Manas Mukul Pal, based on a Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay short story. There’s Manikbabur Megh (The Cloud and the Man, 2024). But this is not a regularity, there’ll be one such film in five years. And genre films have completely diminished. Even established arthouse filmmakers, I don’t see them being represented at international film festivals at all, that is a concern for sure. And, also in the commercial area, there was a big drop. Copies of South Indian films worked at one point, there is no market for such films. The good thing is, people like Shiboprosad-Nandita and Srijit Mukherjee are making box-office hit films. And that matters for commercial films. But again, nothing compared to what Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu cinema are doing.

A lot of these big commercial Bengali films in the ’60s-’70s was based on literature and not just on Rabindranath Tagore or Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. The crop of Bengali writers then was fantastic. People like Shankar, Satyajit Ray’s films were based on, Sunil Gangopadhyay, etc. Point out a single writer in Bengal today who has half the calibre of a Sunil Ganguly. That’s the larger discussion, of the demise of the Bengali cultural scenario, of films and literature, which goes hand in hand there.