After cementing his place as a prominent actor and a heartthrob in the Bengali film industry, Abir Chatterjee has set foot in the Hindi film industry with his debut web series, Avrodh 2. He plays the role of intelligence officer Captain Pradeep Bhattacharya and he tells us that playing the characters of Sleuths (Byomkesh Bakshi, Feluda Sona Da) back home has helped him prepare for his part in the series. However, he added new layers to it to avoid repeating himself as an actor.
During the free-wheeling conversation, he tells us about the series, and how he prepared for the role and also mentions that he feels like a debutante right now.
Excerpts from the interview.
What made you choose Avrodh 2 as your Hindi debut?
This is my first OTT work and my first major break on the national platform so I am excited and slightly nervous. When I got the offer for Avrodh, the first thing that struck me is this is a known brand. Avrodh 1 was very popular and when I was prepping for the role, I noticed on social media that people were asking about the second season. So the expectation is there and I know my responsibility. But frankly speaking, when I heard the synopsis for the first time, what intrigued me most was the character Pradeep Bhattacharya I was playing. It is not a unidimensional character, it has different shades. He is an army officer and is trained for any mission but he is also an income tax officer so he can point out the minor fallacies.
As an actor, we always look forward to newer challenges. I was happily doing my Bengali films and I was looking forward to the right opportunity to go national and at that very moment, Avrodh 2 happened. And one thing that helped was I got the offer last year around March and at that point, we were trying to recover from the first wave of Covid. All our projects were on hold and allotting dates was not a problem. It is a kickass project, on a large scale and I play an intriguing character so it was exciting from the very beginning.
I never felt that I’m have gone out of my own industry, and I’m working in a different industry. So thanks to team Avrodh.
Now that you are debuting in another industry, are you nervous or excited about this new chapter in your life or concerned about how much love you’re going to get from the audience?
Both. I’m excited, slightly anxious, and nervous because this is a wider audience for me. This is the first thing I have to mention is I’m trying to reach out to a wider range of audiences. So I’m looking forward to their reactions. But for an actor and artist, you feel lucky because you’re getting to play different characters in one single life. In a way, I’m a debutant, and right now, I have a line of work. It’s a proper mix of emotions. So that’s quite an interesting mind space right now.
Your role as Byomkesh Bakshi in Bengal is extremely popular and you have also played sleuths like Feluda and Sona Da. While doing Avrodh, how did you keep the approach of this role different?
Right now I’m shooting here in Kolkata for Byomkesh Bakshi after 2 years. So people are expecting a lot Byomkesh will always remain special because of the kind of love and support I got from my audience. Shona da is a comparatively new franchisee but people loved it, especially the kids, but there was no literary background to him and we created it out of scratch. Compared to these two characters, when I started prepping for Pradip Bhattacharya, I could easily understand the investigating or seeking the truth part. It was the known part for me so that actually helped me in my preparation. And I was also a commerce student so I understood the jargon used in the show.
But the tougher part was this is perhaps for the first time people will be seeing me in army uniform. Though I played an army officer in Kahani also. When I was prepping for that part, the realization struck me quite hard because the moment you wear the Indian uniform, you slowly but steadily understand the gravity of the situation, the honor, the pride that is attached to it and you start respecting Indian Army more.
So in a way, I’m also paying tribute to and showing my respect and saluting our army brothers. So that preparation part was tougher, but the team made us interact with Army veterans to get the feel. So while preparing all this I tried to differentiate between the Sleuth I play here in Bengal and Pradip Bhattacharya.
Are there any particular filmmakers or actors you specifically want to collaborate with?
For the national platform, for the Hindi platform, I would love to consider myself a debutante. And I cannot be in a position to choose things. I cannot and I shouldn’t. I don’t want to antagonize anyone. I want to work with everyone. Because you may say that I’m almost starting a new journey.
Coming back to the Bengali OTT, how has it evolved over the years according to you?
OTT is still a new thing and people are exploring it. It has been a very exciting space for any artist to be in. This is completely a new place where you can take risks, experiment with ideas, and with the form of making. But at the same time, we actually don’t have proper data to support whatever we’re doing. If you are asking about Bengali OTT, yes, there are a few popular apps that people are watching but I strongly feel that we need to explore different stories. Like from different areas, because when we are watching a Bengali content, we want to see something with which we can connect to. So I think people should concentrate on stories from different parts of Bengal, which we know but we don’t have a very proper idea about.
