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Millennials Hardly Know What Chowringhee is All About: Sujoy Prasad

Kolkata: Elocutionist-actor Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee has said, millennials are probably not much aware of what Chowringhee is all about, and that is why the novel needs a retelling. Sujoy is playing the role of hotel housekeeper Natahari in director Srijit Mukherji’s Shah Jahan Regency, the upcoming big screen adaptation of Mani Shankar Mukherjee’s bestselling novel Chowringhee.

The role was played by Bhanu Bandopadhyay in the novel’s 1968 film adaptation of the same name. It was directed by Pinaki Mukherjee.

Meanwhile, Abir Chatterjee plays Samiran aka Sam Bose in Shah Jahan Regency, the role played by Uttam Kumar in the earlier film. Uttam’s screen name in that film was Satyasundar aka Sata Bose.

Speaking to RBN on the sidelines of an event in the city recently, Sujoy said, “The present generation may have heard about the earlier film but are unlikely to identify with the life and times of Kolkata (then Calcutta) in the mid-sixties. Srijit has set the film in the present-day context which the current audience will be able to relate to.”

Elaborating on his role in Shah Jahan Regency, Sujoy said, “Natahari is a very nitpicky person and Sam fondly calls him ‘Nitty-Gritty’ in the film. Natahari also delivers an important message about marginalisation in the society and warns people not to be treated as a doormat.”

Sujoy admitted that there’s no point in denying that Shah Jahan Regency will be up for comparison with the 1968 film. “That should also be a pride for everybody in the cast because they are stepping into the shoes of some legendary actors of Bengali cinema. But Shah Jahan Regency is different in perspective and treatment from the 1968 film. Each character in the new film has equal importance in the narrative.”

Shah Jahan Regency releases on 18 January.