Bengali cinema’s biggest star-actor Prosenjit Chatterjee is on a roll. His insatiable hunger for challenges has now led him to greener pastures. On the OTT platform he was first seen in Amazon’s Jubilee, a chronicle of Hindi cinema’s 75-year existence where he played a character inspired by the father of Indian cinema Himanshu Roy, and now he plays another inspiration of real-life character, the slain crime reporter J Dey, on Netflix’s Scoop.
Speaking on his role in Scoop for the first time Prosenjit says, “I had decided to keep quiet about this role. It is more of a guest appearance than a full-fledged role.”
But aren’t those days when roles were measured with inch-tapes long gone, and hasn’t Prosenjit been instrumental in bringing about that change? “I’d like to think so. I did usher in a new phase for Bengali heroes. I never feared taking on unconventional roles. Even two scenes are my scene as long as they have an impact.”
About Scoop, Prosenjit says, “I was very impressed and deeply moved by J Dey’s story. Even when it had happened, when he was murdered in broad daylight, I was shaken. I am sure you know about this case as much as I do. Everyone who read about it was shaken by the fearlessness of this journalist. How many of us would risk our lives for our profession?”
Prosenjit says he had to be a part of Scoop. “When Hansal offered me the part of Jaideb Sen based on J Dey, I said to myself, ‘Okay, your character doesn’t have footage. But his spirit is alive throughout’. To me, my role in Scoop was a guest appearance. I did it for two reasons: J Dey and Hansal Mehta.”
Prosenjit hopes to explore the digital medium even further. “OTT is not the future, it is the present. That I’ve been liked in two back-to-back shows Jubilee and Scoop, and that both have been widely appreciated, just spurs me on to explore the medium even further.”
Speaking on his role in Scoop for the first time Prosenjit says, “I had decided to keep quiet about this role. It is more of a guest appearance than a full-fledged role.”
But aren’t those days when roles were measured with inch-tapes long gone, and hasn’t Prosenjit been instrumental in bringing about that change? “I’d like to think so. I did usher in a new phase for Bengali heroes. I never feared taking on unconventional roles. Even two scenes are my scene as long as they have an impact.”
About Scoop, Prosenjit says, “I was very impressed and deeply moved by J Dey’s story. Even when it had happened, when he was murdered in broad daylight, I was shaken. I am sure you know about this case as much as I do. Everyone who read about it was shaken by the fearlessness of this journalist. How many of us would risk our lives for our profession?”
Prosenjit says he had to be a part of Scoop. “When Hansal offered me the part of Jaideb Sen based on J Dey, I said to myself, ‘Okay, your character doesn’t have footage. But his spirit is alive throughout’. To me, my role in Scoop was a guest appearance. I did it for two reasons: J Dey and Hansal Mehta.”
Prosenjit hopes to explore the digital medium even further. “OTT is not the future, it is the present. That I’ve been liked in two back-to-back shows Jubilee and Scoop, and that both have been widely appreciated, just spurs me on to explore the medium even further.”
