Remembering Ray: He didn’t let me see script, says 'Seemabaddha' actor Barun Chanda

He wouldn't let him see the script, would send lines just a day or two before shooting and didn't like his actors to memorise dialogue. That was Satyajit Ray who wanted his characters to grow organically and not in a studied manner, recalls Barun Chanda, the lead actor of the quiet masterpiece "Seemabaddha".

As the country celebrates the legacy of the auteur, one of the world's best known and most respected filmmakers, on completion of his year-long birth centenary celebrations, Chanda walked down memory lane to remember what it meant to be a Ray actor.

"Seemabaddha", which released in 1971, was a study of the corporate world and life in a rapidly urbanising Kolkata with Chanda playing the central role of Shyamalendu Chatterjee, an ambitious sales manager in a British fan manufacturing company. ''It was my first film, and it was a great experience working with Ray on this project. But Ray was not a conventional director and put his heart and soul in any film he did to bring the characters alive in an organic way," Chanda, who is in his 80s, told PTI in a phone interview from Kolkata. "For the character of Shyamalendu that I was playing, he wouldn't let me see the script so I won't memorise the lines. He would send me the lines from my part just a day or two in advance.'' Ray wanted the character to grow ''organically on screen'' and not in a studied manner, the actor, who worked for years in the advertising industry, reminisced.

Ray, who was born on May 2, 1921, didn't like retakes or actors mouthing lines mechanically with memory, the actor said.

He is delighted that 50 years of '' Seemabaddha'' last year coincided with 100 years of Ray's life and legacy.

Ray, the master auteur of all time classics such as the Apu trilogy and "Charulata", was deep into the craft of filmmaking. Even for montage shots of ''Seemabaddha'', he would wait for the perfect light and shadow to enhance the drama visually in consonance with the script, Chanda said. The film was shot in 1970 in Patna and Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Chanda has fond memories of shooting in both the cities. The actor said his corporate advertising industry background might have been a factor in him being chosen for the lead role.

''In the Patna scenes, when my character rides on a bicycle past the buildings of the famous Patna College or moves to the streets, Ray was behind me in an open jeep. At the Patna Junction shot, he had mounted his camera on a footover bridge to catch the plume of smoke ejected by the steam engine. He understood the vocabulary of cinema,'' said the actor.

Considered part of Ray's Calcutta Trilogy – along with "Pratidwandi" (1970) and "Jana Aranya" (1976) -- ''Seemabaddha'' also starred Sharmila Tagore and is based on the eponymous Bengali novel by Mani Shankar Mukherjee. It released in September 1971 and went on to win a ational Film Award. Dhaka-born Chanda remembers in vivid detail his first meeting with Ray. ''I always wanted to be a Ray actor, and was looking for a valid reason to meet him. In the late 60s, I finally got an opportunity to interview him for the Junior Statesman that was brought out by The Statesman. But my tape recorder didn't function and unfortunately I was not carrying any pen with me, so I later filed it using my memory,'' he said.

''I dared not ask for a pen from Ray… what would he have thought of me,'' Chanda recalled with a laugh.

The interview went for about 45 minutes and it went rather well. ''I sent a copy to Ray too, and he liked it.'' Chanda's recollections of the master filmmaker Ray have now been published in a book titled, ''Satyajit Ray: The Man Who Knew Too Much''. Published by Om Books, it is scheduled to be released this month. Chanda did not act in any film for 20 years after "Seemabaddha", a period he describes as ''self-imposed exile'' from the field of cinema.

''I didn't want to be a professional actor but be a Ray actor, which I did become. But I am very selective about roles, and I wouldn't want to be part of a film with a typical boy meets girl script, and so I refused roles that I was offered,'' he said.

''Had a role been offered by Ray or Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak or Tapan Sinha, any of these great filmmakers, I would have come out of my exile. But unfortunately, I didn't get any. But, then in those 20 years, I didn't miss cinema at all. I am an adman, heart and soul, and I had a whale of a time working in the ad industry,'' Chanda added.

After a 20-year hiatus from cinema, he acted in a lead role in a TV series, and was also part of Rituporno Ghosh's first film "Hirer Angti". "I made my choices, without any compromises.'' The "Seemabaddha" actor, along with several others associated with Ray during his cinematic journey, was recently felicitated at the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) 2022.

Chanda, who holds a Bachelor's degree from St Xavier's College, Kolkata and a Master's in English literature from Jadhavpur University, taught in a college for couple of years before joining the advertising industry.

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