Actor Gaurav Chakrabarty plays Shekhar in Aditi Roy's upcoming web series Parineeta, which is based on the novel of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Ahead of its premiere on Hoichoi on August 15, IBNS correspondent Souvik Ghosh catches up with Gaurav on the series, his role, guidance from Aditi Roy and exploring different shaded roles onscreen in the recent past...

Q. How did you navigate the emotions of Shekhar?

A. The text helped me a lot. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's writing had covered everything from that era. It has a perfect and detailed description of a complex character like Shekhar. So I based my performance on the text, the script and needless to say, Aditi Roy's guidance.

Photo courtesy: Hoichoi

Q. How did you balance the original text and the script?

A. It entirely depends on the director and his/her way of dealing with the subject. As an actor, I hardly had anything to say. I have known Aditi-di for a long time. I have known her since the very early days of my career. Our first collaboration was Byomkesh, which was also a period work. So we had the experience of working together on a period piece. In Parineeta, it was important for me to do justice to Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's writings in terms of representing the text in the most appropriate way. We wanted to be as true to the text as much as possible since Parineeta is not the modernisation of the writing. It was our primary objective to give justice to the text.

Q. How much did you go back to the text during the time you were working on this project?

A. I feel it is very important to refer to the text for these sorts of works. I had read the text in detail and then jumped to the script. I was aware that people have read the text and do have an understanding of this world so my aim was to do justice to the writing. I tried to bring alive my understanding of Shekhar in the series.

Q. How did you explore the onscreen chemistry with Debchandrima Singha Roy, who plays Lalita?

A. It happened very organically. We read scripts together under the guidance of Aditi-di. I believe chemistry between two actors is something that comes very naturally. It can't be manufactured. I am not the right person to judge our chemistry. But I feel we had reciprocity, which is key to building up onscreen chemistry.

Photo courtesy: Hoichoi

Despite belonging to the newest generation, Debchandrima has given all her efforts to adapt to Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's world. Her efforts have played an important role in improving the quality of our work.

Q. In recent years, you have portrayed characters of different shades contrary to the image which was built up over the years. How did that help you in emerging as a versatile actor?

A. I have been trying to explore myself as an actor. Any actor aims to play diverse roles and grey-shaded characters. I will give special credit to Raj Chakraborty, who has explored me in different ways in Parineeta and Abar Proloy, where I portrayed characters completely different from the ones I am known to play. Even Indraadip Dasgupta had offered me a negative character in Bismillah. I have thoroughly enjoyed my journey playing negative roles onscreen in the recent past. Having said that, I love playing 'ideal men' too.

In Parineeta, Shekhar may hail from a traditional background but he can't be described as an ideal man. He is a grey-shaded and complex character. I can't thank Aditi-di enough for roping me in for the character. Aditi-di is one of the directors who is crystal clear about her wants. So Parineeta will remain very close to my heart throughout my life.

Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS

Q. You started off your career with filmmaking icons like Rituparno Ghosh, Kaushik Ganguly. How much those experiences kept on giving dividends to you in all these years?

A. I was very fortunate to work with Rituparno Ghosh right at the start of my career. I remember one incident from my days in Gaaner Oparey, when my inaugural scene with Mimi (Mimi Chakraborty) was asked for a reshoot from the television channel. Ritu-da, who was reshooting the particular scene, had scolded us for delivering dialogues on top of our voices in our previous shot.

When I told Ritu-da that the sound recordist had instructed us to do so, he taught us to speak as softly as one could to give an undivided attention to acting. Even he taught me how to make use of props while delivering dialogues in long scenes. I realised my transformation as an actor after working with him.

Kaushik Ganguly taught me how to strike a balance between acting and normal behaviour in a scene. So I have learnt a lot from various directors with whom I have had the opportunity to work with. Every project has matured me as an actor.