What did director Kushan Nandy think about you for the part?
I met casting director Jogi ji in 2018… I keep doing that… I keep meeting casting directors, giving auditions, reading lines. Casting directors say they’ll get back what they rarely do, whatever the reason. But Jogiji remembered me. He asked me to do an audition for the role of an overweight nerd in Jogira Sara Ra Ra. He narrated the story to me and I loved it. I auditioned and it was sent to Kushan sir, who really liked it. He wanted me on board.
How was your preparation?
We started shooting for Jogira Sa Ra Ra just two days before the official lockdown for Covid in 2020. We shot for two days and then we had to stop. In that brief shooting spell before COVID, I was completely different from the film you see now. Earlier it was a much more attractive, regular guy who had no problem wooing the heroine. At the end of 2020, Kushal sir called me to his office. I thought I would be thrown out of the film. This happened to me 90 percent of the time. Big producers have signed me contracts. And then a few days before the shoot, I was told that I am no longer a part of his film.
That must have been a traumatic experience for sure.
it was. I thought it was going to happen again. But this time my stars were kind to me. Instead I was told that there would be a complete change in Lallu’s character. He needed to look completely opposite to what we had shot before the lockdown. In this way my character has emerged as a big and educated person. Kushan sir wanted me to be fat and he wanted my face to be particularly bloated. We made the character simple and harmless but also funny. We wanted the audience to see the quirkiness beyond the cuteness that my co-star Neha Sharma, who is a very beautiful woman, used to see every time she saw Lallu. My body language, the way I talked, the way I rode the bike all conveyed a sense of awkwardness about my character.
You are the best thing about Jogira Sara Ra Ra. But did you ever feel that this role might harm your career?
Thank you. But which career are you talking about? My career has been like this for the last fifteen years. So to be honest, I had nothing to lose (laughs uneasily). The era of heroes with six packs and veins popping out of their arms and how much they can lift in the gym is over. The audience is now smart enough to recognize the acting abilities of an actor and that is why I decided to take up this role. It is a challenge for me as an actor. Luckily I haven’t got the slot yet. I’m basically just a puppet in any genre. So many people have congratulated me. It was a risk but it paid off, because like I said, I had nothing to lose.
How did you deal with all these years of struggle?
MMS is a famous line from fighter George San Pierre. He said that waiting is also training. In that sense, I am training myself to stay calm and give my 100 per cent. Of course there were days, weeks, months when I just gave up and said, ‘Fuck you. I have done it. Waking up every day with the expectation that one call is going to change your career and seeing that hope crushed every night takes a lot of practice. Then you get used to it… So at this stage of my life, I’ve learned that everything means something or nothing, depending on how you look at it . Neither success nor failure, good or bad, nothing is permanent. You just keep trying. One day your prayers will be answered. That’s how I’m coping. Still I am waiting. Tomorrow also I will wait. Even my father (Mithun Chakraborty) had to find another mountain to climb after reaching the top of the mountain. So the struggle continues, whether you are successful or not.
What is one career advice your father gave you?
To be an honest person. Let’s say I become a superstar and I’m a total jerk. As long as my stars shine, people will take my side. Once I am not successful, I will be thrown out. Your goodness as a person matters more than success. I believe kindness not hate is the weapon to win the world. This is what my father taught me.
What do you have to say to those who consider star kids as a product of nepotism?
Ninety-nine percent of people in the world think very negatively about star kids. you will not believe it. but someone is on Instagram Has commented that he always believed that I am a product of nepotism, but after Jogira Sara Ra Ra he has become my fan. We are not ‘star kids’. We are not given special treatment. A lot of people don’t talk to me when I go to the gym because they already hate star kids. We all are struggling. I am living proof that nepotism does not exist. You know what a legend my father is. He has earned all his success. But has their success helped me? No not at all! I am like any struggler. And I don’t want any special privileges for being someone’s son. Whatever appreciation I am getting today for Jogira Sara Ra Ra, I have earned it on my own. My parents are very proud of me. After so many days people are praising me. It took fifteen years. But eventually it paid off. It has been a tough journey. Each actor has their own battle to fight. This is my fight. And I love fighting. I hope some struggler gets inspired by reading about my struggle.