JOIN USI chase creative satisfaction, says actor Jisshu Sengupta
Bengali film star Jisshu Sengupta, who has become more active in Hindi films in recent years, says working in cinema of different languages is creatively more satisfying.
The 43-year-old Sengupta started his career with Bengali film Shesh Thikana in 2000 and has done an array of movies including The Last Lear, Chitrangada, Noukadubi, Byomkesh Bakshi, Zulfiqar and Posto.
He made his Bollywood debut with Shyam Benegal's National award-winning film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero in 2004.
Sengupta said as an actor, he is chasing creative satisfaction.
“I do films purely on the basis of the content. I want to do different kinds of films, in different genres and languages. In an art form, you learn everyday if you don’t learn you are finished as an actor. I chase creative satisfaction and it comes from working in different languages,” he told PTI in a zoom interview from Kolkata.
In recent years, Sengupta has featured prominently in Hindi movies Barfi, Piku, Mardaani, Manikarnika and Shakuntala Devi to name a few.
His upcoming Bollywood release is "Durgamati". Headlined by Bhumi Pednekar, the film will see Sengupta in the role of a police officer.
“The character that I am playing is one of the most important roles in the film. If you remove the character, the film doesn’t move, that's how important it is,” he said, without divulging details about his role in the movie, directed by G Ashok from his own 2018 Telugu film Bhaagamathie.
The actor said he decided to not watch the original as he didn’t want to have pre-conceived notions about his character.
The Hindi version, also featuring Arshad Warsi, Mahie Gill, Karan Kapadia, will be available to stream worldwide from 11 December 2020 on Amazon Prime Video.
Sengupta now hopes to explore Tamil and Malayalam cinema in future as they have great content.
“I want to be part of films that have great content. I am here to entertain my audience, make them laugh and cry, do every genre of film, in every language,” Sengupta, who has acted in some Telugu films, including the biographical drama on NT Rama Rao (Sr NTR), said.
The actor said for him length of a role doesn’t matter, how pivotal it is to the story is what entices him.
“I have done small roles or guest appearances in Bengali films too. Whether the role is meaty or not, the aim is to see whether the part is important to the film or not, if my character is removed does the film run or stops there, that is what I look for,” he explained.
There were reports of him being a part of Kangana Ranaut-starrer Thalaivi, a biopic on the late politician-actor J. Jayalalithaa.
Sengupta said he was offered a part in the movie but could not do it due to "prior commitments"