Life beyond advertising: Sumanto Chattopadhyay, on being an actor

(Life beyond advertising is a weekly feature, where we feature advertising’s interesting people; people who do crazy, creative things after working hours. We try and understand their passion and drive for what they do, what makes them tick and what it takes to wear multiple hats.

If you fit the above description to the tee and would like to be featured, write to us at mukta.lad@web18.in .)

The spotlight, this week, is on an eminent adman with a penchant for acting, writing, photography and the Spanish language. Meet Sumanto Chattopadhyay, executive creative director, South Asia at Ogilvy & Mather, who immensely enjoys acting in plays and films whenever he can make the time. In a candid chat withFirstbiz,Chattopadhyay speaks about his relationship with theatre, why he loves acting, his scariest moment on stage and other things about his actor avator.

Read on to know more…

How did you get into acting and how has the journey panned out?

I grew up in Tanzania for a couple of years, where I studied in an international school. When I was in the sixth grade, my English teacher told me to write the school play. I was thankfully at an age where I didn’t know whether I could write or not. So I did go ahead and write it, and it was even performed!

I didn’t do any theatre in college, though. Once, I did a play-reading with actress Devika Shahani after I had moved to Mumbai. That was that, but then I bumped into her much later and she asked me if I wanted to do a play. That’s how I got cast in ‘Barefoot in Mumbai’ (based on Neil Simon’s play Barefoot in the Park’). It was a comedy about a newly married couple living in a walk-up and was directed by the late Hosi Vasunia. It was a fantastic experience; I didn’t even know how to project my voice back then. Hosi would shout at me and he finally said, “For the next two weeks, you will shout out all your lines!” But guess what! That somehow worked for me.

I was petrified to be on stage for the first couple of shows! I remember a scene where my wife in Barefoot sends me out to buy a bottle of wine, which was my cue to get off stage. I completely blanked out and forgot I was supposed to come back in a few minutes! Devika was a seasoned actor, something that couldn’t be said about me then. I suddenly heard her say onstage, “I wonder what’s taking him so long!” That was when I snapped out of my reverie and ran back on stage and made up some lines.

We travelled to Dubai, Pune etc and did some 30-40 shows of Barefoot in Mumbai. Soon after, I got an offer from Kumar Shahani to play a poet-turned-terrorist in Char Adhyay, a film based on Tagore’s novel with the same name. I learnt so much more with just that one film!

Watch ‘Char Adhyay’ below:

Char Adhyay (Kumar Sahani) “Cuatro Mujeres” from Imagineindia Film Festival on Vimeo .

Since then I have done more plays like ‘The Life of Gautam Buddha’, which has been a big milestone in my acting career. Buddha was an intense drama and we opened at the Kalachakra Festival, which is attended by a lot of Buddhist monks who we received an overwhelming response from.

I have also done an Agatha Christie play called ‘The Mousetrap’ and Shomshuklla Das’ ‘I Have Gone Marking’. My most recent work has been ‘Taaan’ with Rituparna Sengupta and me in lead roles, a Bengali film that just completed a 100 shows back in Kolkata.

How are theatre and film different in your opinion?

There is a certain immediacy in theatre which film cannot give you. For instance, if you’re doing a comedy, the audience is laughing if you are doing it right. I remember a woman weeping in the first row during an intense scene in Buddha once. You can sense if the audience with you in the moment. Theatre is always a challenge because you can do three great shows but have a bad fourth one because of so many reasons. It is full of great highs and great lows while being unpredictable.

Having said that, film has such wide reach that theatre can never give you. Take Taaan, for instance. It’s been showing for a 100 days with multitudes of people watching it; how could I ever have gotten such reach with a play? In today’s world, I want to reach the whole world. Why would I want to limit myself? Films let you achieve that.

Do you ever see yourself quitting advertising and pursuing acting full time?

I doubt that I will do that, since I love advertising too. There was a time I was offered a daily soap in Mumbai but I couldn’t take it up because of the time commitment it involved.

If I got offered a dream role in a Hollywood film, I would surely take it up. It will just be a question of taking a couple of months off, anyway; I don’t need to quit my job for it. But if that became a huge hit and everyone was falling over themselves to sign me up for 10 dream roles, I would surely consider leaving my job!

Since your first show to today, how has the experience of being on stage changed for you?

All the established actors will tell you the same thing I am about to - the fear of being on stage will always be there on that first day, first show of a play. But things definitely look better after that!

I have poor memory, so I have this fear of forgetting my lines. I memorise the first five minutes of what I need to say, whether I am going on stage or presenting in front of a client. Everything falls into place post the initial minutes and I relax. With acting, the fear never really goes away; it’s just that you learn to deal with it better along the way.

What do you love most about what you do?

The best part about acting is that it completely takes you out of yourself and makes you someone else. I love getting inside somebody else’s head. I always try and pack in as much research as possible in everything that I play. If there isn’t much given to me, I invent a character. If I am playing a photographer, I will study something about photography. I did intensive studying for Buddha, too.

The key scene in the play is where He attains enlightenment and delivers his first sermon about the Four Noble truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. I remember asking the director if I could rewrite it basis that. This chance to do research and learn so much along the way is something I really love. People may or may not like my performance, but I need to feel right when I am performing.

What is the most difficult bit about theatre?

The most tedious part is to take the time out from advertising in order to rehearse. Daily rehearsals can get really difficult to accommodate in a routine. Another thing is finding rehearsal spaces in Mumbai that are pocket-friendly; there are hardly any suitable ones.

Watch a scene from ‘Taaan’ below:

What are your major acting influences?

Naseeruddin Shah is one Indian actor who is superb. I have seen him in films and plays, but I am a fan of him as a theatre artist. I have seen him in adaptations of Greek tragedies where one has possibly read the texts before, but he still manages to make the experience work by making it wholly unexpected. One gets to see great, subtle acting in a Naseer play. I really admire him.

Could you share any fun experiences from your years as an actor?

This surely wasn’t fun when it was happening, but can easily be my scariest moment on stage.

In the scene where Buddha is shown to attain enlightenment, I am supposed to be sitting in the lotus pose and mediating. The scene depicted dancers and singers trying to distract me, but I was supposed to sit still, with my eyes closed for about five minutes. After everyone is off the stage, leaves and flowers were to fall on my head and I am supposed to be getting up calmly - except I can’t because of a leg cramp! I wondered what to do next, considering I couldn’t keep sitting there forever. It would have been so embarrassing if I had to moan and groan while getting up.

I just sat there for a few minutes extra, using all my willpower to tell that cramp to go away. And wonder of wonders - it did! Maybe I really did achieve enlightenment at that time.

You are a multiple award-winning adman with an inclination towards acting, photography and writing, among others. How to maintain that balance between work, life and passions?

Honestly, I have done a number of things over a considerable period of time, but I am not constantly doing something. I can’t take out that kind of dedicated time. Having said that, I feel so inspired when I am in a play; I go home and sit at the computer reading up on things after I have been rehearsing for hours, even. There is a constant flow of ideas when the creative faculties are stimulated. And I find that indulging in photography, acting or writing only helps sharpen my senses for advertising, so it all works out.

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