~*Sushant's Bollywood Journey#19*~ - Page 28

Sushant Singh Bakshy!

With polarised reviews and box-office returns which are a distant second to Furious 7, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! hasn't really come in all guns blazing. But the Dibakar Banerjee film has definitely broken new ground in its interpretation of Sharadindu Bandopadhyay's Bengali sleuth. t2 caught up with Sushant Singh Rajput " the latest Byomkesh on the block " on response, recap and reload...

BYOMKESH: YAY OR NAY?
It's largely been great feedback. Even those who hadn't seen my earlier films have made it a point to watch this one. Most people can't fathom how we managed to recreate Calcutta of the 1940s so convincingly and in so much detail. The general response has been: Dibakar has done a super job in interpreting Sharadindu Bandopadhyay's Byomkesh Bakshi and Sushant has managed to pull it off (smiles). That's been the response from nine out of 10 viewers.

I am practical enough to know that we can't have everyone saying: Wow, what a film!' If you are trying to do something different with something that has been revered and has its own set of followers, your personal intent and language is bound to be criticised. Lovers of Byomkesh have always had a certain idea of how he should be represented and so if anyone tries to tamper with that in any way, there is bound to be a conflict. But I am happy that most, in general, have liked the film.

I think most followers of Byomkesh were very sceptical about my casting. When I shot the film in Calcutta, I spoke to some purists and I was a little scared by how strong their opinions were on how Byomkesh should be (laughs).
I called up Dibakar and told him: They already know what they want in the film, so how do we do something else?' Dibakar's reply was: They will get convinced once you get convinced'. And I followed what he said throughout the film. I didn't see the monitor at all while I was shooting because I wanted the experience to be very intense and didn't want to keep jumping back and forth from the monitor to the shot. Somehow, I feel I have been able to convince that I haven't done a bad job at all (smiles). Dibakar just told me that he was speaking to a couple of people in Calcutta who have grown up on Byomkesh and watched all Byomkesh films and they apparently told him: Sushant is now our Byomkesh!' (Smiles)

BEING BYOMKESH
My Byomkesh is largely a greenhorn when he starts out, he's very, very fidgety... but then as the film progresses, he comes into his own and people are liking that transition a lot. This is definitely my most honest portrayal of a character.
For all those months that I was shooting the film, I was in a different time and space. I had to completely get into the character and lose Sushant Singh Rajput every time I wore that dhoti and became Byomkesh. It was a very intense and energy-draining shoot and there were days when I would remain in my shell even after pack-up. It's not easy acting in a film that isn't set in modern times. In Kai Po Che! (his debut), the narrative went back only by a dozen years, but here I had to get the nuances, the body language and the look and the feel of Calcutta in the 1940s. It wasn't easy at all. But honestly, I am happy we did this our way. The effort with every film should be to try out something... why make something that is anyway being expected out of you?

BYOMKESH RELOADED
Yash Raj Films has bought the rights for all the Byomkesh stories in every language, except Bengali, and there will, of course, be many more films. I am not sure what they have in mind and when that will be, but I am ready to go back to playing Byomkesh anytime because this is what I became an actor for... to be people who are in no way similar to who I am in life. I hope Dibakar and Team Byomkesh take me back! (Smiles)

Priyanka Roy
Sushant is my Byomkesh because... Tell t2@abp.in