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If I meet a good-looking woman on the sets, I am like, ‘No, there’s Chanda’: Anjan Dutt

This film wouldn’t have been possible 10 years back,” said Anjan Dutt, who turned 65 in January. You ask him why and he has his answer ready. “Because realisation of love comes with time,” he quipped. Ahead of the release of Finally Bhalobasha, which is close to his heart both as an actor and director, his actor, Sauraseni Maitra, and he open up on love, lust and what keep them going. Excerpts: Last year was good for the two of you as actors. Sauraseni was praised for Generation Aami, Anjan Dutt for Uma, Ek Je Chhilo Raja and then, together you worked in Aami Ashbo Phirey and Byomkesh Gowtro. Did you follow each other’s works? Sauraseni: Anjanda has always been praised for his films and he deserves every bit of it. I didn’t miss a single performance!

Anjan: I have always followed what young people are doing, be it in the technical aspects or acting. I first saw Sauraseni in Anik Dutta’s film (Meghnad Badh Rahasya) and was interested in knowing a little about her. I liked her in an ad and that was a deciding factor. Neel fought for Parno when I was doing Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona. I was like, ‘Are you in love with Parno or what?’ He kept telling me, ‘She’s very good’, and showed me pictures where she was looking hot. After that, I called her up. She used to do a serial, which I didn’t like. But finally she came on board. This time too, I saw Sauraseni’s ad and decided to cast her. I am not sure, but maybe Neel had shown me the ad.

A: Chanda was unhappy. When I did Yugant, there was a magazine cover that had me kissing Roopa (Ganguly). Neel was growing up and it was not possible to keep the mag cover upside down. Neel saw that. He had his friends in school. Maybe he was thinking, ‘My dad is a hell of a Casanova, he doesn’t like my mother’. But I didn’t hide anything from him; he misunderstood me, but I gave him time. Time is the best healer. I don’t know if my grandparents stayed together all their lives out of love. It could have been habit. And habit is not right. This is reflected in Insomnia. Every day, you wake up, you forgive me and say, ‘Chalo another day’; for me, that is love. This understanding came to me at 63, when I conceived this film. Now I am 65. There has been sex in my films, but I focused on broken families, Kolkata, finding one’s roots… in this film, I have concentrated purely on love. I couldn’t have made this film 10 years back. Realisation comes with time. People think there will be dark glasses, old Darjeeling, songs, morbid emotions, lots of smoking and drinking in my films and I was like, why are they not accepting my world. This is my signature, my brand, this is my world. In my songs, people are losers; I love Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Dil Chahta Hai, but I can’t make them. I used to be depressed about people rejecting my world. Later, I realised that I was unable to make them see it. Today, I want to make them see my world with all its idiosyncrasies….Click here to read the full story