I want to remain in the hearts and minds of people.” Champa Khan alias Champa is a household name in Bangla cinema. However she is rarely seen these days on the silver screen. One of the reasons being she wants to do meaningful roles in parallel movies. People today want good movies. They will remember an actress for the quality roles she has played and not for the number of roles, opines a more matured Champa. Having gotten the flavour from a movie (Abar Oronney) completed in India two years ago, she wants to give the audience her best which she feels is not being offered in regular commercial movies in Bangladesh.
Abar Oronney (In the Forest Again) by Gautam Ghose is a continuation of Satyajit Ray's Oronney Dinratri (Days and Night in the Forest). While the earlier movie depicted three young friends out on a picnic in the forest, the latter revolves around the same three friends who are now old and with families. Once again they venture out to the forest where various kinds of incidents take place. The cast includes Sharmila Tagore, Shoumitro Chaterjee, Rupa Ganguly, Shomit Bhanjan, Shumendro and Champa. Tabu is also seen in the movie, acting as Sharmila's daughter who has just returned from abroad.
On the current trend of Bangla movies, Champa is of the opinion that the country's filmdom has taken a nosedive in terms of quality. No longer can a family go out and watch a movie and be sure it will be decent. The quality of movies has deteriorated to such an extent that one feels embarrassed to sit in the same row as one's
parents, elaborates Champa.
According to Champa, one of the major drawbacks of our cinema is the lack of technical expertise, particularly in comparison with Indian films. She welcomes the trend of upcoming talents--but adds that they don't have a platform to experiment and express that talent. Talent is not enough, it needs overall support from the movie industry. Bangladesh also needs producers who will support parallel movies instead of always backing commercial movies. She appreciates
the effort taken by TV channels. However there is still a lacuna which needs to be filled, opines this multi talented actress.
Talking about her film, Bidrohi Padma, Champa expressed extreme disappointment in the final version. As she said, “For the first time in my movie career someone dubbed my voice without my permission and I was extremely dissatisfied. I was also unhappy with the way my role shaped out.”
Given a chance, she would love to work again in Indian movies. “It definitely was a proud moment being selected for a movie of such a high standard, when there were plenty of good Indian actors who could have done the role”. Such is her commitment to good roles that when asked to choose between an Indian and a Bangladeshi movie being shot at the same time, Champa said she would select the movie which offered the better role irrespective of the country. Her Indian movie, Lal Darja (Red Door) by Buddhadeb Dasgupta was nominated for the Oscars.
Champa has completed over 300 movies. “I have dedicated most of my adult life to movies; I want to have the flavour of normal life again.” She felt it was about time she moved on and spent more time with her family and close friends. She lives in her new avatar today, selecting her roles carefully whether in the film industry or on television. She will be seen very soon on Zahid Hassan's Lal Neel Beguni. A worshipper of beauty, this evergreen actress spends her time decorating her house, maintaining her exotic garden and keeping herself fit and beautiful.