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Vishalji calls me a g***u actor: Chandan
PRIYANKA DASGUPTA , TNN 19 August 2009, 12:00am ISTPrint Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Comment Text Size: |
His former girlfriend, for whom he still flaunts a Lord Krishna tattoo, still calls him Monkey. His director, Vishal Chandan Roy Sanyal
Bhardwaj, lovingly Chandan Roy Sanyal
calls him a 'g***u' actor.
"When you take the first sip of your drink, you don't feel the punch and ask for more. Suddenly, you are hit hard with an overdose. It's the same thing happening with me now. I've even got compliments comparing me with being a Joker la Heath Ledger!
But fact remains that the audience has seen only 40 per cent of what I'm capable of doing. I'm lucky to have got a godfather in Vishal Sir. Over drinks, Vishalji fondly told me: 'You are a g***u actor'. He has gifted me a copy of The Fountainhead. Choosing what I want to do next will be crucial since I want to do something totally different," he says. By different, he means, a role in a Danny Boyle or a Mira Nair film. "Even as I sit back at home and soak in the adulation, I stare at Boyle's Trainspotting poster on my living room wall. Wish I could do such films! Wish I could shuttle between New York and Mumbai and have a parallel career in both industries!"
Even as Chandan daydreams, he is careful to remain grounded. "I still remember one afternoon when I had returned from college, had a good Bengali lunch and then tuned in to the radio to listen to Sapne mein milti hai that was composed by Vishalji and picturised on Manoj Bajpai. A decade later, people are now telling me to ensure that I don't become another Manoj Bajpai! Life seems surreal now. I'm only 5'6" and don't have Milind Soman's looks. But when I am there on stage, the audience will not see anything but me. This is only an realisation of my potential and is not overconfidence."
It's unlikely that Chandan will get swayed by the glamour, considering how he has struggled hard. "I come from a lower middle-class family. My father was an unskilled labourer and would earn Rs 2,000 a month. The flamboyance of my on-screen character came from my exposure to the West. I want to break the perception that a theatre actor might not be right for essaying an economically polished role!" he insists.
But what if he is offered a role that's all about earning money but with little creative satisfaction? "While I'd find it challenging to do a David Dhawan comedy, I wouldn't do a film only to earn money. I have 25 T-shirts and two trousers. That's quite enough for me. I have come to the industry at a time when there are makers like Zoya Akhtar, Nagesh Kukunoor, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Imtiaz Ali, Vishal Bhardwaj and Anurag Kashyap. Even if they make at least one film a year, I'm cushioned.
"
Though the commercial Bengali films of today don't excite him, Chandan is eager to work with Aparna Sen. "Rabi Ghosh is my favourite actor. I am sold on Mithun Chakraborty's films. Yet, today's commercial Bengali films don't inspire me. Somewhere I wonder whether all this is being made in the land that boasts of works like Aranyer Din Ratri and Meghe Dhaka Taara? Actor Rajatava Dutta called me up from Kolkata to say that people have liked my work. But funnily, my mom has liked my performance though she slept through the film!"
PRIYANKA DASGUPTA , TNN 19 August 2009, 12:00am ISTPrint Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Comment Text Size: |
His former girlfriend, for whom he still flaunts a Lord Krishna tattoo, still calls him Monkey. His director, Vishal Chandan Roy Sanyal
Bhardwaj, lovingly Chandan Roy Sanyal
calls him a 'g***u' actor.
"When you take the first sip of your drink, you don't feel the punch and ask for more. Suddenly, you are hit hard with an overdose. It's the same thing happening with me now. I've even got compliments comparing me with being a Joker la Heath Ledger!
But fact remains that the audience has seen only 40 per cent of what I'm capable of doing. I'm lucky to have got a godfather in Vishal Sir. Over drinks, Vishalji fondly told me: 'You are a g***u actor'. He has gifted me a copy of The Fountainhead. Choosing what I want to do next will be crucial since I want to do something totally different," he says. By different, he means, a role in a Danny Boyle or a Mira Nair film. "Even as I sit back at home and soak in the adulation, I stare at Boyle's Trainspotting poster on my living room wall. Wish I could do such films! Wish I could shuttle between New York and Mumbai and have a parallel career in both industries!"
Even as Chandan daydreams, he is careful to remain grounded. "I still remember one afternoon when I had returned from college, had a good Bengali lunch and then tuned in to the radio to listen to Sapne mein milti hai that was composed by Vishalji and picturised on Manoj Bajpai. A decade later, people are now telling me to ensure that I don't become another Manoj Bajpai! Life seems surreal now. I'm only 5'6" and don't have Milind Soman's looks. But when I am there on stage, the audience will not see anything but me. This is only an realisation of my potential and is not overconfidence."
It's unlikely that Chandan will get swayed by the glamour, considering how he has struggled hard. "I come from a lower middle-class family. My father was an unskilled labourer and would earn Rs 2,000 a month. The flamboyance of my on-screen character came from my exposure to the West. I want to break the perception that a theatre actor might not be right for essaying an economically polished role!" he insists.
But what if he is offered a role that's all about earning money but with little creative satisfaction? "While I'd find it challenging to do a David Dhawan comedy, I wouldn't do a film only to earn money. I have 25 T-shirts and two trousers. That's quite enough for me. I have come to the industry at a time when there are makers like Zoya Akhtar, Nagesh Kukunoor, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Imtiaz Ali, Vishal Bhardwaj and Anurag Kashyap. Even if they make at least one film a year, I'm cushioned.
"
Though the commercial Bengali films of today don't excite him, Chandan is eager to work with Aparna Sen. "Rabi Ghosh is my favourite actor. I am sold on Mithun Chakraborty's films. Yet, today's commercial Bengali films don't inspire me. Somewhere I wonder whether all this is being made in the land that boasts of works like Aranyer Din Ratri and Meghe Dhaka Taara? Actor Rajatava Dutta called me up from Kolkata to say that people have liked my work. But funnily, my mom has liked my performance though she slept through the film!"
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Vishalji-calls-me-a-gu-actor-Chandan/articleshow/4906906.cms
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