Indrani Dutta

Toast of the Bengali filmscribe
She does female leads as well as parallel roles in Bengali films. A trained dancer whose dancing has not been exploited by Bengali cinema. Marriage and motherhood did bring a short break. But Indrani Dutta is back at work, fresh from the Best Actress award she bagged last year for her sterling
performance in Prabhat Roy’s Shedin Choitromaash.

The award came from the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association and is prestigious for its own sake. Rarely has the press paid much attention to this actress whose potential has not been properly exploited by Bengali filmmakers though she does stand out in some of the roles portrayed by her. She likes to mention her roles in Shedin Choitromaash and Swapno Niye. But just two films in a career spanning well over a decade is hardly a record for a Bengali actress. Specially, when there is real dearth of both face and talent. Why?

“You tell me why”, says Indrani, in her casual manner. “I have always been totally involved in my career. I did not have to struggle much like other newcomers in the industry. But I had to struggle all the same. My struggle was with my family, my dear ones. My father specially, was totally against a career in films. So, I kept persuading my mother, who was also not for it in any way. Instead of seeking roles in films, I had to request my parents to agree to the

assignments that practically landed on my lap,” she goes on. Then, as her parents saw her work in the first few films, they warmed up to their daughter’s choice and insisted that once she had chosen to act in films, she had better be good at it.

Her first role was in a film called Nadia Naagor, directed by Sushil Mukherjee. “I used to give dance performances as a young girl. As my makeup artiste was aware of my eagerness to join films, he one day informed me that this director was looking for a new face for the role of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s wife Bishnupriya. He added that he had already shown the director some photographs of mine and he had asked me to see him. I persuaded my mother to come along. Mukherjee took a screen test, and then chose me, primarily because I had long hair. He needed a girl with long hair. Even while I was shooting for this film, offers began to pour in. Being in the midst of my examinations, I was in the final year then, I was forced to reject all of them. I was very conscious about my studies. I did not wish to be a school drop-out because of my films,” informs Indrani.

“My graduation was probably one reason why my career did not pick up the way it should have. Then, almost as soon as my results were out, I got married and had a little daughter. Though my career went on alongside as well, naturally, I was not in a position to accept any and every role that came my way. But my career did not really stop the way people think it did,” says Indrani.

The problem with actresses in Bengali films is that they do not offer competition at all. “How can you call a situation competitive when two leading ladies are doing 19 out of 20 films? It is a monopoly of sorts where people like me who do not have a lobby, who cannot beg for roles and cannot rub shoulders with filmmakers, find it difficult to go up in the rankings.” Yet, there is no bitterness in Indrani as she says this. She has learnt to take her career as it comes. And is happy about the way it has begun to shape after a two-year break for motherhood. “I am performing a double role as mother and daughter in a film which is totally centred around me. Soumitra Chatterjee is cast opposite me while Arjun Chakravarty is my hero in my younger role. I do not wish to name the film or the director yet because we have still not begun to shoot,” she says, smiling away.

Responding to the query on why she is not seen more often on the small screen, Indrani says, “I was never averse to television. But right now, I am a bit scary of over-exposure there what with seven Bengali channels running together right now. Anyway, I have done television along with films all the time.”

The problem with Indrani is that she could never pull it off with a proper and viable pairing opposite a Bengali hero. Unlike Satabdi Roy-Tapas Paul, Rituparna-Prasenjit or Debasree Roy-Prasenjit. “How can I pair off with an actor when the number of films I have done is less than half of the number my colleagues you name have acted in? Besides, when a film of mine turns into a hit, is it not the industry’s duty to pair us and make many more films? I shall give you an example. My Shedin Choitromaash opposite Sanjib Dasgupta was a big commercial hit besides being featured at the Hyderabad Filmotsav two years ago. It was the right time for commercial filmmakers to hit on our pairing and cast us in films. But no one did it. I do not know why. Besides, the pair concerned also work a lot towards their pairing being repeated by filmmakers. I fail to do that. For instance, when an actor is asked to sign a film, he recommends the name of the actress he pairs with successfully. The actress does the same. They adjust their dates for other films accordingly. If the director concerned had thought about casting another actress, he changes his decision and decides to cast the actress the actor is asking for. This has nothing to do with a love affair or anything like that, remember. It is purely out of professional and commercial reasons. If the pairing becomes a hit, then, individually too, the stars stand to benefit in terms of hiked rates per film and in landing more plum assignments.” Her lament, however, is that no one can ever repeat the electric charisma of what Uttam Kumar-Suchitra Sen pair had produced for decades together. Other films she likes to mention are Dabi and Tarun Majumdar’s Aranya Amaar.

“I have enjoyed working with some of the best directors of mainstream cinema and I count myself very lucky to have worked with them. It has been a learning process, really. Tarun Majumdar, Biresh Chatterjee, Prabhat Roy, Bishnu Pal Choudhury, they had all directed me in a way that I have never developed any mannerisms in my portrayals. But I would love to work with Gautam Ghose and Rituparno Ghosh as well. I would love to do a few off-mainstream films, if the directors would have me, of course.” Would she have quit films had her husband asked her to?

“Yes. Absolutely and without the slightest regret about doing it. There is no confusion in my mind about this.”
Shoma A. Chatterji