Actress Sudipta Chakraborty’s relationship with the stage started almost four decades ago as a six-year-old. Though stage has not been a constant in her life, she never left it entirely. As much as she enjoys her work and success on the big and small screens, the comfort that stage gives her as an actor made her return to it over and over, making it a hard-to-forget ‘first love’! Her recent act in Binodini Opera drew overwhelming praise from critics and theatre-goers alike and was a testament to this love affair. In a t2 tete-a-tete, she pours her heart out about her relationship with the stage, her journey as an actress and her acting academy.
You started acting on stage at the age of six, but when is it that you understood that you fell in love with the stage?
That took some time. I first got up on the stage when I was in Class I. It was not an age to understand my love for the stage but I used to enjoy being on stage. My father (Biplab Ketan Chakraborty) was the director and my aunt was my co-actor. It was a family affair. Whenever we used to participate in any competition, I would get the best child actor medal and that felt fun. Even during my school years, I always felt very comfortable acting. Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay, after watching my performance in Ghore Phera, told my father to never take me out of acting. I was in Class I. When I was in Class V or VI, I performed Chaitali Raater Swapno (an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) under Utpal Dutt’s direction.
My father made this group called Theatrewala and our first production was Kancher Dewal by Suchitra Bhattacharya. I was in Class X at that time and used to play the role of Brishti, the protagonist. Since childhood participating in plays and discussing plays were a part of our system. Our friends used to visit Jhilmil (an amusement park), while we used to visit the Academy of Fine Arts with our mother. I had learnt the group show days by heart — on Tuesdays, Chetana would perform, on Thursday it was Nandikar and Wednesday was probably Bohurupee. Unknowingly, either I got into this system or this got into my system. Without realising it, I fell in love! (Laughs)
Do you remember the first time you were fascinated by watching someone on stage?
I was fascinated by Suranjana Dasgupta’s Malanchi Kainya in Madhab Malanchi Kainya. Also, Manu Dutta’s set of Chaitali Raater Swapno, under Utpal Dutt’s direction, fascinated me when I acted in it. It was a Thursday-Saturday-Sunday show at Rabindra Sadan. With every change of scene, the pillars and the trees of the set would alternately go up and down. It was an unbelievable set… the way the fairyland was made. Utpal jethu used to keep a chessboard and make his actors understand the choreography on stage.
What is the most important lesson that the stage taught you?
As an actor, the most important lesson that the stage taught me was to step out of the shell. The stage doesn’t allow us to stay in a shell. In films or television, your hand or foot movement might not matter in a close-up shot. I know which side of my profile is good for the camera. But on stage, all these don’t matter. Unlike the screen, the stage cannot be restricted to a director’s vision or their chosen shots. The audience chooses what to see.
You often took long breaks from the stage…
There’s only one reason behind that — Bengali theatre never allowed me to take up acting professionally. I always wanted to be a professional actor and did not want to do anything other than acting. But it is not possible to be only a professional stage actor in Bengal. I wanted to earn money by acting and Bengal’s group theatre cannot pay for a comfortable living. Now, they still pay me because of the little recognition that I have gained but it is five times less than my earnings as a screen actor. So, I had to move to other mediums to make acting my profession. I enjoy being in front of the camera, too, but the stage creates a different comfort within me. That’s why I keep returning. After all, it is my first love!
Most great thespians of Bengal were either professors or lecturers or used to work somewhere else. They mostly had a regular source of income and then did theatre. My father used to work in a government office and then do theatre. Even they did not give their entire time to theatre, rather could not. This is why if someone asks me to talk about theatre, I feel very embarrassed. I am not saying this just for the sake of it. I really did not give my 24 hours to theatre. So, I feel, in my place, there should be another girl or boy’s interview who gives his or her 24 hours to theatre. I didn’t give it, so I don’t know whether I deserve this piece in t2 on theatre.
Despite not having a consistent presence on stage, your performance in Binodini Opera stood out. So much so that it made quite a difference to the theatre scenario in Calcutta…
I owe it all to my director, Abanti. I was hungry for a good role and she offered me this. But I don’t think only Binodini Opera changed the scenario. There are other productions as well, which are contributing to this change. But yes, it did bring in more audience to the theatre halls who were not regulars. While many came to watch a play for the first time in their lives, many came back to the theatres after 20-25 years. But it alone didn’t do anything to the theatre scenario. Even today, if Tiner Talowar is announced, the hall becomes houseful.
Many came to watch Binodini Opera because they thought my work has authenticity. My prolonged association with other mediums surely brought many of my followers to watch my stage performance for the first time. But it is also the team’s performance that decides the audience for the next stage performance. A lot is happening in the theatre scenario of the suburbs, too. Great actors are coming out of it and they are doing different things. They have been doing this for many years. But no one gives them the attention they deserve. Mainstream media doesn’t write about them.
What were your initial thoughts when your director Abanti Chakraborty approached you with the character of Noti Binodini, a name that’s almost synonymous with the history of theatre in Bengal?
I knew of Abanti and her work, but I didn’t know her. I had never met her before this. She came to my house one day and on that day itself, I told her yes after listening to her idea. I had not done a Bengali play in a long while and on top of that it was a woman director who is very recognised. She was offering me Noti Binodini on stage! Was there a reason to say no? I told her if she felt confident, I would try my best. Rest is history. I didn’t think much otherwise I couldn’t do it.
I felt today’s generation has not watched Noti Binodini on stage, and though it might not sound right, but it is true that many of today’s generation have not even heard her name. This means they have not had the opportunity to know, they have not wanted to know or they have not been taught. I have not seen her. I just knew she looked male-ish. I don’t look like that but the stage helps us to imagine. There was a time when I used to play two characters in Debeshda’s (Chattopadhyay) two plays one after the other. In Bikele Bhorer Shorshe Phool, I used to play a young girl wearing half pants, and in the next, I used to play a 65-year-old woman. The stage audience is more accepting. So, I thought the audience would accept me, and with that hope, I took it up.
Almost a four-decade on-and-off association with stage. Did the approach to stage acting change through the decades?
A lot. With globalisation, a lot is open to us now. When Lalda (Suman Mukhopadhyay) did Koreolenus or Gontobyo, he learnt from abroad, saw plays there and came back and opened new doors for us. That taught us a lot. Now, when we can see on the Internet and can go and see the performances in London or the U.S.A., we know how much is actually happening. Bengali theatre’s language has definitely changed.
I love Binodini’s format. I loved the way Abanti conceived it. People will think that it is capturing that era. But what she did is, she took the old story, old character, old time and placed it into contemporary times. The dance is of today and the music is of today. She brought the whole thing in a play-within-a-play format. Though the content is almost 150 years old, putting the content in a new form made the presentation so different. Whereas people of an older generation could revisit those times with a sense of nostalgia, the new generations could also understand it.
You teach acting as well…
It is actually not possible to teach acting. I help people realise whether they can take up acting or not through techniques and technicalities. It has to be within; I nurture it and help them identify what’s within them. The first six-month course in my academy is all about that. It helps one to understand whether acting is their cup of tea. We have segregated our workshops into specialisations now, like dubbing, stage acting, screen acting etc. So that people can hone the specific skills.
Even before you opened the academy formally, you used to help your colleagues and juniors prepare for their roles…
It has been three-four years since I opened my academy. During the pandemic, my colleagues requested me to take it up professionally. We used to do this serial called Khela, where we used to give each other middle name. My middle name was Didimoni. Everybody always thought of me like that. Many people come to me with their scripts before their film starts. It is a place of trust for them. They know I will help. Earlier they used to put money in my bag and go after learning from me and I used to put it back in their bags! Covid made me a formal didimoni (teacher)!
How important is it to learn acting before appearing on stage or screen?
In Bengal, a play’s mounting cost is ₹1-5 lakh approximately, but still on stage, the directors give the actors much more time. It is rehearsed for three to four months at least. From light to make-up and costume, everyone is aware of everything and when everything is ready they perform the final play. In a ₹1-10-crore film, the actors meet on the day of the shoot for the first time. Isn’t it weird? Aren’t the stakes higher? Isn’t any preparation required?
I will narrate what Saswata Chatterjee once said during a shooting. We were shooting in a hospital and a doctor came and told Apu that it was his childhood dream to act, so he would feel very grateful if Apu allowed him to act in a scene in one of his films. Apu told him that it was his dream to become a doctor, so if the doctor allows him to operate on one of his patients one day, he will allow him to act in one of his films! (Laughs) Why do people feel acting can be done without training?!
Location: Bonne Femme cafe
