My first film with Premendra Mitra to be released was Kankantala Light Railway. This was followed by Shetu, in which Dhiraj Bhattacharya played a double role, and Chandraboti Debi was the heroine. I recall several other films I acted in, such as Ashabarna and Boloygrash, both directed by Pinaki Mukherjee. In Boloygrash, Shikharani Bag played the role of Suchitra Sen’s daughter, while I played the daughter’s friend.
And then, Baishe Srabon. The connection came about in a strange way.
Bijoy Chatterjee and Bholanath Roy were the distributor and producer of the film, respectively. They lived in Dhanbad, and had acted with me on stage when we performed the play Ulka there. I’d forgotten them, but they had remembered me. They were the ones who told Mrinal-babu about me. He in turn asked Anupkumar to get in touch, and he collected my address from Gita Dey. After this someone from the production team came to my house and asked me to meet Mrinal-babu. He used to live on Manoharpukur Road then. I went to his house, where he interviewed me.
‘Do you know how to mop the floor?’
‘Yes.’
‘To do the dishes?’
‘Yes.’
‘To put cow dung pats on the wall?’
Now I stumbled. I’d never done this. I was wondering what to say when Geeta Sen, Mrinal-babu’s wife, rescued me. ‘What a...
