I still feel the urge to reinvent myself: Prosenjit

Kolkata: He has been ruling the Bengali film industry for the past 30 years but actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, who is returning to Bollywood with "Shanghai", says he still feels the urge to reinvent himself.

"From Tony`s (Aniruddha Roychowdhury) `Aparajita Tumi` to Goutamda`s (Ghosh) `Moner Manush` to my next film I feel the urge to reinvent myself, to take up characters of different shades and profile," Prosenjit told PTI here. The 49-year-old will next be seen in Rajiv Kumar`s next action film. The actor has been dabbling with more gritty roles in films like `Moner Manush` where he played Lalan fakir. The actor, however, says he never said goodbye to `masala` films. "Rajiv`s new flick, a major part of which was shot in Hyderabad, is high on action, song and dance quotient. I now feel I should connect to this segment as well. "I will now switch from one genre to another, from Rajiv`s flick to the next one by a director like Goutam Ghosh where I play a corporate figure and then again in Srijit`s work," said Prosenjit, whose first film as a hero was `Duti Pata`. Talking about his role in Aniruddha`s `Aparajita Tumi`, which had been entirely shot in San Francisco, the actor said, "Unlike more verbose roles in some other films, here I had the brief to do under-acting, mouthing almost no dialogues for scenes together, which was more akin to acting through your expressions. "Tony is a director who conjures up visuals to create intense moments. He has thought about the character in a brilliant way and threw before me the challenge to portray the role, which is very different from previous ones," he said. Asked about `Shanghai`, a political crime thriller by director Dibakar Banerjee, where he reportedly plays a social activist, Prosenjit said, "I am super-excited about how Dibakar, one of the young, talented directors has executed my role and the film. I`m happy that I was offered the role." Prosenjit, who had first appeared in father Biswajit`s production `Chhoto Jiggasha` when he was only four years old, said his one dream role remained the lead role in Francis Ford Copolla directed `Godfather` played by Al Pacino. About his role in friend Rituparno Ghosh`s films, Prosenjit said, "Barring `Khela`, most of the roles in Ritu`s films have not been traditionally author-backed but I have no qualms on that as the director threw up the challenge to work on these characters and I tried to deliver." Prosenjit, whose Ideas production house has been able to create a niche segment in the small screen, has many dreams. "One dream is to produce a documentary on the old, decrepit or well-kept temples and myths associated with the respective edifice in Kolkata and other Bengal districts. I hope when made, it will help in documenting our little known treasures," he said. "I would also love to work on direction, my long term objective. But my hunger for good roles gives me little time to shift my energy to other areas," said Prosenjit, whose first film as a director was `Purushottam`. PTI