Well, if you are an observer of Bengali movies, then the King of Tollygunge gets a year older or younger…
Prosenjit Chatterjee or aka Bumbada – he is evergreen – he may be in his ‘60s and ‘70s or may be in his ‘50s – but the curd lover only gets zealous every year.
A non-actor when he started off with his mannerism being a bane – this man who resides at Utsav, Ballygunge in Kolkata has in his kitty – a perfect amalgam of masala potboilers and films with substance.
On one hand, he has Amar Sangi, Baba Keno Chakor, Sosurbari Zindabad, Maayer Anchal – on the other hand, he has Unishe April, Choker Bali, Autograph, Jaatishwar, Khela, Baishe Srabon – the list is endless.
Hey guys - Moner Manush, the Kakababu series, Jeshthyoputra, Prakton, Clerk and so on.
Your truly has had the good luck of interacting with him umpteen number of times and everytime he did, he was mesmerized.
Look at his perseverance and tenacity – in Amar Sangi – the song Chirodini Tumi Je Amar immoralised him – in Srijit Mukerji’s Autograph, he paid the perfect ode to the Matinee Idol of Bengali Cinema Uttam Kumar in the latter’s on-screen avatar in Satyajt Ray’s Nayak.
And then he flirts with luck in Bolyywood – Shanghai, Jubilee and so on.
Forget his failed attempts in Aadhiyan and so on…
Yes he claims he was offered Maine Pyar Kiya which ultimately gave the film industry a megastar called Salman Khan.
But he has stood his ground.
As an erstwhile insider, this author has been a witness to Bengali actors, directors and producers taking jabs at him – but deep down the line, it’s those people who now sing paens for him.
Because he matters!
Bumbada himself knows that more than half the people who revere him, do not mince words when it comes to slamming him in his absence.
Yet, Prosenjit Chatterjee doesn’t care – the son of the legendary Biswajit Chatterjee knows the truth – yet he would be pretentious – “Everybody loves me,” he would opine knowing fully well that he is torpedoing his own perspective.
But life moves on – as he turns a year “YOUNGER’ – yes he defies age and numbers, we can only stand back and say, “Bumbada you rock.”
