Prosenjit, the uncrowned emperor of Bengali cinema for more than three decades, has finally been recognised for his rich and long-standing contribution to Bengali cinema, He has been bestowed with the Padma Shri this year, the only Bengali actor this year to be so recognised. “I am very happy with this honour and it has come as a very pleasant surprise” was his first reaction when he heard about the award from someone else. But to many of those who have known him closely and watched his evolution as a versatile actor over time, it has been long overdue.

With a roster of more than 300 films in his kitty, he slowly and steadily shifted to the balancing act between mainstream and off-mainstream films. This director’s actor comes across as an epitome of modesty. Biswajit is the only Bengali star who made it so good in Bollywood that he never came back into Bengali films. Biswajit made his debut in Mumbai with Bees Saal Baad, a murder mystery with Waheeda Rehman opposite him. It turned out to be a very big hit and Biswajit became a star overnight.

When asked, “You have just completed almost 50 years in cinema. What does it feel like?” He promptly says, “It feels great. It is amazing the way the Bengali audience has accepted me across two generations. I would not have lasted this long if the audience did not want me. The years helped me discover and reinvent myself, to explore areas I have not been able to explore before. I am not in competition with anyone – in Bengali cinema or Hindi cinema.”

The word ‘hero’ for Prosenjit, transcends the borders of the screen, the cinema theatres and the Bengali audience to embrace everything contemporary mainstream Bengali cinema stands for – pulling in the mass audience, crossing the rural-urban divide of viewership, and fashion statements among young men who wish to emulate their icon. Prosenjit’s grip over millions who are completely enthralled is without parallel. He has been around for nearly fifty years in more than 300 films. He has evolved into an institution. The intellectual set of Bengalis who stuck up their snooty noses at the mere mention of his name in their inner circle was forced to sit up and take notice when he stepped into off-mainstream films.

“I am my audience when I face the camera and before a shoot begins, I derive the character from real life characters I have encountered along the journey of life. Sometimes, it is an interesting amalgam of several real-life persons with say, a mannerism attached, or, a way of speaking. You must have found this in Srijit’s film, a thriller named Baishey Srabon where my character is modelled along the lines of Runu Guha Niyogi, former Assistant Commissioner of Police in Calcutta during the 1970s. He was involved in the brutal torture of Archana Guha, a schoolteacher who was arrested and tortured for nearly a month in 1974 because........

© Mathrubhumi English