Kolkata: Actor-Director Aparna Sen and senior industry colleague Anjan Dutt will share screen space as an elderly couple in Bengali movie Ei Raat Tomar Amaar (This night belongs to you and me) which is set to hit theatres on August 30.
The film tells the story of a couple who go through regrets, heartbreak, love and forgiveness in their 50 years of marriage, all in a single night, director Parambrata Chatterjee told PTI.
Sen and Dutt have earlier been cast as two warring lawyers in Srijit Mukherji’s Ek Je Chhilo Raja (There was a king) in 2018.
In Ek Je Chhilo Raja, “we played warring lawyers who had once been lovers. However, we weren’t the central characters there,” Sen said.
She said there was great camaraderie between her and Dutta during the shoots.
“When you have been friends with someone for a long time, there is already a bond of trust between you, which helps. Besides, when you have worked as colleagues, you know the other person’s strengths and weaknesses,” she told PTI.
To a question, Sen said only filmmakers can say why she and Dutta were not cast as a couple until now.
While Sen’s first film was Samapti in 1961, Dutt debuted in Chalchitro in 1980. In 1991 they were part of Mahaprithivi (1991) and Ek Din Achnaak (1989), both directed by Mrinal Sen, but the two did not share screen space. After a gap of 27 years, they were cast together in Ek Je Chhilo Raja.
Sen donned the director’s hat for the first time in 36 Chowringhee Lane in 1981, while Dutt debuted as a director with Badadin in 1998.
“I have directed Anjan as an actor more than once. I know his strengths as an actor and can’t think of any weaknesses just now,” Sen said.
Sen directed Dutt in Yugant (1995) and Mr and Mrs Iyer (2002).
Praising the Ei Raat Tomar Amaar director, she said, “I must say Parambrata gave Anjan and me a lot of creative space. He was mindful of the fact that we were senior filmmakers and welcomed any suggestion we might make.” “All three of us (Chatterjee, Dutt and Sen) having been directors as well as actors, we know the problems a director or an actor faces and could, therefore, cooperate and help one another in any given scene,” Sen said.
To a question, she said, “It’s possible that people never really considered casting me since I acted infrequently. I was always busy directing my own films and saying no to most acting offers that came my way.”