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Soumitra and Sharmila go down memory lane

Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
For a moment, the clock was turned half a century back.
The occasion was the felicitation of veteran Bengali actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore on completing fifty years in cinema at the International Film Festival of India in Panaji.
Both the actors are having their Golden Jubilee Retrospectives at the IFFI 2009 with the screening of maestro Satyajit Ray's “Apur Sansar" (1959) in which they made their cinematic debut. As a testimony to their enduring appeal they are also having a strong presence in Indian Panorama section this year.
Soumitra, considered Ray's favourite hero having appeared in 14 of the director's films spanning 30 years, said it was difficult to talk about a filmmaker like ’Manikda" (as Ray was popularly known) with whom he has had such a relationship.
Sharmila Tagore recalled how Ray came thoroughly prepared on the shooting set and nothing escaped his attention.
On the future of Bengali cinema, Soumitra said “it is doing fine" and there are a number of young directors who are doing meaningful cinema and popular Bengali films have “regained their acceptance.”
“People may miss the Uttam Kumar or Soumitra Chatterjee era but Prosenjit (Chatterjee) era has also lasted for a long time, which is not a bad thing,” said the veteran actor.
He said he has to wait for a good role to come by though he is still working all the time and waiting for such a role is not always a good experience said the veteran actor.
Sharmila Tagore also echoed the sentiment
and said she prefers to work only when a powerful role comes her way.
She said that she had a share of good female-oriented roles in films like "Safar" and "Dooriyan” and her roles in films like "Devi", "Apur Sansar" (featuring opposite Soumitra), "Mausam" (opposite Sanjeev Kumar), "Satyakam" and "Anupama" (opposite Dharmendra) gave her a lot of satisfaction.
Talking about "Mausam", the actress recalled the sensitivity of Gulzar as a director and his ability to bring out the actor from his performers. Similarly, she enjoyed working in Marathi film "Samaantar' with Amol Palekar.
Asked whether she will direct a movie, Sharmila Tagore said she has thought about it but direction requires a different kind of commitment and discipline. “Lets see what happens,” she said.
The actress said Rajesh Khanna was the “real super star” of Hindi cinema. “It was dangerous to go out with Rajesh Khanna after Aradhana' as people would mob him everywhere. We never saw anything like this,” she recalled.
Sharmila and Rajesh Khanna worked together in some other films including "Amar Prem", "Daag" and "Safar".
Both Sharmila and Soumitra expressed doubts if Goa had the ambience for an international film festival because of “lack” of audience for international cinema.
Sharmila suggested the IFFI be headed by a noted film personality instead of a bureaucrat. Bureaucrats get transferred but not film personalities, she pointed out. Besides, a film personality gives a film festival a higher profile.
The actress said Bollywood does wx>make up the entire Indian cinema as many good films are being made in regional languages.