Chandan Roy Sanyal is currently on a high with the recent release of Aashram Season 3, in which he plays Bhopa Swami and has replaced Bobby Deol’s Baba Nirala as the head of the ashram. In a Zoom video interview with us, the 45-year-old actor tells us about his early beginnings in Rang De Basanti and Kaminey, his production house, and how he wants people to understand that, to him, it’s acting that is important, not being famous.
Q. In all the roles which you’ve played till now, which do you think has gotten you the maximum recognition? Is it Aashram?
A. I think Bhopa in Aashram and Mikhail in Kaminey. But since there was not much social media back in 2009, I don’t know what was the magnitude of that character’s impact on the audience because it was just newspapers, television, and people talking about it, with the song playing everywhere. So it was a completely different time, and I cannot judge what Mikhail would have been.
Q. You don’t come from a film background, so how did Bollywood happen?
A. I come from a middle-class Bengali family in Delhi. I grew up with my aunts and uncles from my maternal side, and they were all into movies, music, books, and literature. So, while growing up, I would listen to Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Kishore Kumar, and Md. Rafi. My mother used to take me to watch films by Mrinal Sen, and I used to watch a lot of Hindi films. I remember watching Mr. India as a kid and being completely mesmerized by the world of cinema.
So, I was always into movies and music, but I never thought that I would become an actor. In Delhi, the college theatre scene is very strong, and everyone does it. But when I did it, it gave me an immense sense of joy and some kind of bravado because I used to be very shy when I was growing up. So, when I went on stage, I overcame this whole idea of being shy. I could not talk much about the reserved. All that sort of started fading away with acting, and that gave me a reason to become an actor. I became someone else when on stage; it was not about being a movie star, doing cinema, or becoming famous.
Q. You’re also starting your own production company?
A. I’ve been writing for years now, and I want to tell some stories. I had my own theatre company and used to direct plays, with a lot of well-known actors working with me. I’ve been inspired by actor-filmmakers such as Woody Allen, Charlie Chaplin, Manoj Kumar, Raj Kapoor, and Mel Gibson – I love them. Even when I was working with directors like Vishal Bhardwaj, I used to watch them as an actor on set – the cameraman, the lighting, editing, scripting – I would be learning from the filmmakers by observing them.
Q. How did Binodiini – Ekti Natir Upakhyan happen?
A. I’ve done some interesting work in Bengali cinema, and I have a lot of fans and followers in Bengal. Binodiini is directed by Ram Kamal Mukherjee, who was a journalist himself, and I play Ramkrishna Paramhansa in it. The film is about a theatre actor from 19th-century Bengal, a time when it was taboo to be an actor. At that time, there wasn’t any cinema; the real stars were the theatre artists.
Q. Did you think get the kind of recognition you deserved after Kaminey?
A. I was primarily a theatre actor then and didn’t know much about PR. It was hardly an eight-minute role, but it had a huge impact on the audience. I just did a few interviews then with film journalists who had liked my role and called me up.
So, there was no strategy; it happened by accident. I was doing theatre in England when I got the call for Kaminey. I was also in Rang De Basanti, but post that, I got a huge opportunity to work in a British production, and that took me to England, America, and Europe, traveling for four years. The kind of satisfaction I was getting out of it was immense, and I did not want to come back.
I had no dreams of becoming a superstar. I just felt wonderful that people saw me on stage and loved me. Only after Kaminey did I start getting a lot of roles, and so I continued here. Even RDB happened by accident; I went to a mass audition, and I got the part and did it. And then I didn’t pursue a film career. I never went for auditions.
I didn’t know about the process. People said I needed a manager, a publicist, that I should do only certain kinds of films, walk like this, and talk like that. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to do quality films.
I didn’t come here to become famous; I came here to act. I really want people to understand me that I’m not a failure. These are the kind of conversations I want to have. I opened up to you because this perception of being famous—there is so much pressure it puts on actors. And then you become a slave to becoming famous and forget why you started off in the first place.
If this fame thing happens, it will happen on its own. I think you asked me a very good question, and thank you for that, because I really wanted to answer this so that people also understand that I’m very happy where I am, and I’m really looking forward to what I’m going to do in my life. When I look at the Oscars, when I see Sean Baker talk about independent cinema, or what Jesse Eisenberg does, I get excited about these artists doing some amazing work.
