PROSENJIT CHATTERJEE THE STAR AND THE DEBUTANT

At 60, the bonafide superstar and hitmaker of Bengali cinema, with a career spanning four decades, has made his OTT debut as an astute businessman and filmmaker, Srikant Roy in Prime Video’s Jubilee. The actor talks about what made him come back to Hindi content, eleven years after his last Bollywood outing

- ANANYA GHOSH

Srikant Roy, the maverick filmmaker, the ruthless studio owner, and an astute businessman, of Prime Video's recently released web series, Jubilee, is a character modelled after one of the pioneers of the golden age of Hindi cinema and founder of Bombay Talkies, Himanshu Rai. It is essayed by Prosenjit Chatterjee, the superstar of Bengali cinema with 300-odd films to his credit, who like Rai has been an integral part of many tectonic shifts within the industry. The actor imbues Roy with authenticity and swag. His Roy is not just a Bengali intellectual, but a Don Corleone-like imposing figure with a gangster vibe.

"That was the brief from my director," says Prosenjit as we catch up with the actor at Juhu's Sun-n-Sand hotel. "And Godfather is not always negative. In fact, I can very well relate to that aspect of Roy's character. See, nobody has created the brand Prosenjit for me; it is my hard work of 40 years. If something impacts that brand, I will not take it lying down. I can become a dangerous man then. It is a similar situation with Srikant Roy. He has built his empire from scratch, and he has to ensure it doesn't crumble. He loves cinema, but it is also a business for him. So, he needs to be ruthless, at times," shares the 60-year-old actor, who a few years back, turned producer.

Prosenjit is the son of Biswajeet Chatterjee, the suave star of the '60s known for movies like Bees Saal Baad, Kohra, Mere Sanam, etc., and had started his career as a child actor in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Chotto Jigyasa (1968). But it was in 1987 with Amar Sangi that he emerged as the romantic hero of commercial Bengali cinema. He then turned into an action hero. He would go on to rule the industry as its bonafide star.