Kolkata :
The ‘Teen Bhubaner Pare’ pair of 1969 showed their chemistry is intact even in 2015 when the graceful Tanuja met the evergreen Soumitra to wish him on his 81st on Monday.
When Soumitra’s Chatterjee’s daughter Poulami pointed out that their ethnic attires complemented each other, Tanuja responded: “It’s unintentionally coordinated. We’re the best,” giving the original Feluda a playful nudge.
And it was not just the chemistry, but the energy too that had a renewed vigour to it. As the camera flashes threatened not to cease in the greenroom, Tanuja exclaimed: “So many people! If we do a movie together now it’ll be an instant hit.”
Soumitra, ‘Pulu’ to Tanuja, nodded vigorously. “Yes, we must do another film as the lead pair.” When someone asked how he was enjoying his birthday, he said: “I’m not enjoying it at all. I haven’t had the chance to eat, sleep or bathe.”
Tanuja said: “May you live a 100 years.” He replied: “But that would be too painful.” Soumitra had high fever and had to take paracetamol tablets through the day.
But once they hit the stage for a conversation moderated by poet Srijato, the warmth that could be felt wasn’t because of a virus. The moderator asked him whether having nothing left to unveil on his life was a curse or boon, Soumitra said: “If you spend so many decades under public glare, you have to forego a private life. But such long stints also produce friends, like I have one in Tanuja. Not because we have worked in many films together, but more like things happen in home. You strike a certain understanding. Now the industry has changed a lot. Back then, it was so homely that if I had a headache, she would say ‘shhh’ and take out an ointment to rub on my temple.”
When Srijato asked her about her bond with the Chatterjee family, Tanuja said: “How to explain… When I met Pulu he didn’t feel like a stranger.” Srijato interjected: “Did you know he still has a cheque signed by you with him?” Tanuja was astounded. “You mean you didn’t encash it?”
Soumitra explained: “She had a plan to launch Kajol in a film that also featured me. She had even given me a cheque in advance. But the film didn’t happen.” Tanuja repeated: “You seriously didn’t encash it?”
The real impatient, inspired Soumitra came out when he was asked: “Despite so much success how are you still not complacent?” “I’m unsatisfied by nature. Even if I like my work in a particular field, it is so short-lived that it’s negligible. My icon is Rabindranath Tagore, the most successful of them all. He achieved everything, but didn’t sit back in complacence. He had grievances and they reflected in his art. With such an example before me, how can I be satisfied!” he said.
Tanuja said she feels the same way but this was a lesson she “learned anew this evening”. She elaborated: “When someone asks me: ‘What’s your best film?’ I say: ‘I haven’t done it yet.’ I love your attitude.”
Despite a sore throat, Soumitra recited one of his poems selected by Srijato and went on to recite one more. A book on him by Tapan Sinha Foundation was launched on the occasion while theatre group Mukhomukhi felicitated Tanuja. Sketch artist Ekta Bhattacharjee was invited to present her hand-drawn portrait to Soumitra while veteran artist Rabin Mandal presented him with a book on his artwork recently published by Delhi Art Gallery.
And the moment the audience cheered the most? When the onscreen pair hugged. Before signing off, Soumitra had one last witty bomb to drop. “Back in the greenroom, a person came up and presented me with a bouquet of roses. He said there were 80 of them. I realised that 80 years were not as heavy as that many flowers.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Shounak Ghosal, TNN / January 20th, 2015