Man Vs Industry

He is the uncrowned badshah of the Bengali contemporary cinema, and he seems to be quite sure about it, as he declares more than once (though that might be under the influence of the alcohol), I am Arun Chatterjee, and I am the industry! That is Prosenjit Chatterjee (is the title of the reel and the real characters, just a coincidence?) in his latest avatar in Autograph, taking the Bengali cinema to a newer height. The era of serious films in Bengali had its veteran master filmmakers with Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen leading the way, and the path leading to the modern day filmmakers of hope including Gautam Chatterjee with his Moner Manush and Rituporno Ghosh with his Ar ekti premer golpo, and now we have the popular figure of the Bengali cinema, who had been reigning the silver screen for some two decades, and who thought that autograph is in fact a facile tone of his autobiography… the audience fails to notice the blurring of the reel and the real characters in Prosenjit, but that is one of the aspects which gives a glimpse of what is in store of Bengali cinema.

Autograph (and let me remind that there are quite a few films named Autograph in some other Indian languages too, for instance in Tamil and Telugu) is an effort which was worth, in terms of the innovative storyline, cinematography and the trite holding of the plot, though there are areas where one does not know for sure, who is the real hero, if it is Arun Chatterjee or Subhobrato, though we have no doubt in the case of the female lead, in Srinandita. No doubt the film history of the regional languages in India vouch for the fact that there are leading figures who had occupied the stage at different periods, and it is thanks to them that the filmi culture had been passed on from generation to generation uninterrupted. But Prosenjit had to change his hats several times during the two decades, and had proved that he is made of a sterner stuff, and that was so very evident in his brilliant acting in Moner Manush, not to mention his performance in Chokher Bali. But that is the man who represents the industry.

Let me make a few observations about the plot, since this is quite different from the normal mold of films that the Bengal had seen in the recent past. We could not think of a film which is different from the love pair, who go through a series of challenges to keep their bond intact, only to be blessed ultimately by the custodians. But here is the story which begins at a different note, and the audience is not even sure where the plot is taking them, until they see Arun and Srin recognizing the tentacles of love for each other, and Subho left outside the circle of their intimacy. Srin struggles to keep her live-in status intact, even discouraging Arun from coming closer to her, though she finds it hard to push him out of her life. But at the end we are not sure if Arun had done the wise thing by terminating the release of the film once for all, because he would not allow Subho take advantage of the leak of the personal life of Arun, his mentor and producer, financier.

The age of autographs is almost over, and very seldom do you come across youngsters and pretty girls sticking their notebooks to heroes and cricketers, seeking autograph. Look who is seeking the autograph of Arun, the industry icon, at the end of the film – it is the boy at the tea stall in the roadside dhaba, and he had no special notebook to preserve the autograph of the icon, but a casual notebook. We are living in the digital world, and autographs of great men and women are readily available at Google! If you don’t believe this, go to Google website, and under the image category, just key in ‘autograph’, and you will find scores of autographs of some of the greatest men and women of our age. Why is there a need therefore to run after great men and women begging them to grant an autograph? But then this is a story which is nostalgic, taking us to some two decades before, to relive the days when it used to be the regular scene, whenever a hero or a heroine walked on the street or market place. Times have changed, and we cannot forget the past so easily.

Before I conclude the blog, let me pay my humble tribute to the man who could easily fit into any type of character to keep not only his personal image intact, but also to keep his coffers healthy, even when the stock markets turn volatile. Getting Prosenjit to work on roles which are challenging and demanding really bring out the best in him, the hidden potentiality which can pull out the artiste in him, giving us another dimension of the hero. His contribution to the Bengali cinema cannot be disregarded, and he will continue to remain a cult figure in Bengal for quite some years to come. We have had great men and women who had blessed our silver screens – and Mahanayak and his eternal pair, Suchitra Sen will never become old to the Bengali cine-goers. Prosenjit may fall in line with them, and he has many more years to raise the Bengali cinema to greater heights, to bring back the glory that Satyajit Ray achieved for Bengal.