Interview | Khakee The Bengal Chapter star Saswata Chaterjee: ‘A housefull board is more important than Oscars to me’

Saswata Chatterjee opens up on working with Neeraj Pandey in Khakee: The Bengal Chapter and shares why his part in the Netflix show is not merely antagonistic.

After the success of Khakee: The Bihar Chapter, Netflix is bringing Khakee: The Bengal Chapter. Produced by Friday Storytellers, Neeraj Pandey is the showrunner for the series, with Debatma Mandal and Tushar Kanti Ray as directors. The cast and crew were present at the trailer launch of the series in Kolkata a few days ago, where they spoke about taking the Khakee franchise forward. (Also read: Interview | Jeet says he is ‘lucky’ to work with Prosenjit Chatterjee for the first time in Khakee: The Bengal Chapter)

Saswata Chatterjee plays Shankar Barua aka Bagha in Khakee: The Bengal Chapter.

Saswata Chatterjee on working with Neeraj Pandey

Saswata Chatterjee plays Shankar Barua, known as Bagha, in the series. A known face in Bengali cinema, the actor rose to attention in Bollywood with his turn as the diabolical assassin Bob Biswas in Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani. In Khakee: The Bengal Chapter too, he is playing someone who has grey shades.

At the trailer launch, Saswata gushed about working with Neeraj Pandey and said that he had wanted to work with him for a long time. What was it about the director's work that made him take notice? In an exclusive interaction with HT, Saswata says, “Actually, the choice of his subjects! Who else can make a film called A Wednesday? What an unique concept! It touches your heart and at the end when Naseer Ji says, ‘Main naam batana nahi chahta kyuki naam mein log mazhab dhund lete hain.’ The soul to write those lines, and the films should touch people's hearts. I hate watching films jo dikhate hain dekh main kaisa film banaya! Kuch samjha nahi main festival ghoom ke aya (those who show what a wonderful film I made. You don't understand it but it does rounds at film festivals). A housefull board is more important than Oscars to me.”

On his character in Khakee The Bengal Chapter

Speaking about his character in Khakee: The Bengal Chapter, Saswata said, “It is really an intense part, but it is not antagonistic totally. He is a grey-shaded person. When everyone will see my introduction, they will feel he is a dangerous man, that he is a killer. But then, when they see him sitting beside his dead mother's body- in that scene, he is also a genuine person. He is sensitive as well, so he is a very complex character. What human beings are, in a way, because we all have grey shades. We have everything inside us, but kya zyaada hai ye determine karte hain aadmi kya hai (What has more weight determines what kind of a person we are). No one is black, or no one is white. As actors, we have to tap into what is required for a part.”

Khakee: The Bengal Chapter, also starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Jeet, Ritwik Bhowmik, Chitrangada Singh, Pooja Chopra, and Parambrata Chatterjee, premieres on Netflix on March 20.