Quotes from Saswata Chatterjee

In 'Kahaani,' I did not have more than 15 minutes in the whole movie and my character has dialogues for not more than two minutes. Still,the audience remember me for that role.

After 'Kahaani,' I received a lot of offers for similar roles - from Hindi as well as Bengali filmmakers. But I didn't want a repeat performance of Bob.

Here in Bengal the production has to work under more pressing schedules partly caused by monetary reasons as the shooting has to be wrapped up within a limited number of days to prevent cost overrun and hence there is not much scope to rethink and alter.

I have earlier played Ritwik Ghatak on screen. It was one of the toughest roles.

If any director offers my role to some other actor just because he can't trace me, then I think the character was never meant for me.

I know there are some good sides of social media but I am scared of getting addicted to the mobile screen.

In 'Black Coffee' I am not the celluloid avatar of 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' director any more. How can you portray similar characters in two films?

The phone will always ring. If I leave it even for a moment and go some where, by the time I come back there will be at least 50 missed calls. I will then get confused as to who to call and who not to, so it's simpler to live with out a cellphone.

Once I went to watch 'Hatari' with my Mama and there was a rhino attack scene where I cried so much that they had to take me back home at interval.

If I am traveling to remote places, I carry an ordinary phone because sometimes there's no option.

I have quite a handful of projects here in Tollygunje film industry. There are films like 'Aschorjo Prodip,' where I essay a modern day salesman, and others like Aparna Sen's 'Gaynar Baksho.' Let the audience judge me for these roles.

Of course, 'Kahaani' is my huge break. Lady Luck smiled at me.

I have introduced my daughter to the literary classics and landmark Bengali films. I want her to be well-versed in English but not at the cost of Bengali.

Everything will follow if you are physically and mentally fit.

The day Bengali cinema lost touch with literature and started aping the south, the middle class audience stopped going to the cinema halls and later the larger audience too stopped going.

See, there are just that many in 'character' roles that you can get. So I will wait for something mind-blowing to come my way.

I grew up watching Ritwik Ghatak, Satyajit Ray and Mirnal Sen's works in my youth, which was a very turbulent phase in Bengal's history.

During my adolescent years, I watched a lot of theatre. I had the habit of enacting every scene I saw in front of the mirror.

If I worried about things I have missed, it would lead to depression.

After all these years of Independence, after celebrating this special occasion for all these years, why there's no drinking water that's free of cost? Why we have to buy packaged mineral water?

See, Independence means freedom, for me, more specifically, freedom of speech which we seem to have lost.

I give nod to roles only when it excites me.

I am nowhere near social media.

Unlike in the past, when acting in parallel cinema entailed hitting film festival circuits even not fully comprehending the story thread at times, directors are more intent to tailor present day films for the audiences, while introducing fresh concept and craft.