EXCLUSIVE! Prosenjit Chatterjee: ‘Each of the characters will be remembered in Netflix’s Khakee: The Bengal Chapter; everybody has an arc’ | Not Just Bollywood

At the heart of this explosive saga is its ensemble cast, including legendary icons of Bengali cinema, Jeet and Prosenjit, fondly known to their fans as Boss and Bumba Da aka Prosenjit Chatterjee. Set in the early 2000s, in a city dominated by power-hungry gangsters & politicians, the law often struggled to maintain a balance.

In an EXCLUSIVE interview with Firstpost’s Lachmi Deb Roy, the cast talks about the different layers of their characters. And we all hope that Netflix’s Khakee: The Bengal Chapter will bring Bengali cinema back on the global map.

 Edited excerpts from the interview:

Prosenjit , you are the star rather the one and the only star of Bengal, so how does it feel to be on the global platform and be part of a series that is going to release on Netflix

 Prosenjit Chatterjee: I think it is a great moment for the Bengal chapter. I have been part of this and it’s going to be a huge exposure to Bengali cinema and life. And not just because I am a star and in the industry for 40 years. At the same time, I have seen the growth of the industry and I think this is the right time for the kind of exposure Bengali talents need. Long time back we did Choker Bali.

Not just actors, it is a great exposure for many great Bengali technicians working for this Netflix Khakee: The Bengal Chapter. Somebody telling a story of Bengal from the angle that we have not seen before and the Bengal Chapter talks about that. Mostly, Bengali stories in cinema are more of literature based. This is a very mainstream kind of a show and that too on Netflix. I think it is a great opportunity for all of us.

You play a politician or a cop? Or a Gunda (gangster)?

You will have to wait and watch it. (laughs).

Aadil, w****hat was your preparation like?

Aadil Zafar Khan: The preparation was fantastic. I am playing a guy from Bihar who has come to Bengal. I have a specific dialect and a way of speaking limited to that area. I had zero reference to that. And that required going through a workshop. The script was very helpful, but we needed people to train us and teach us that dialect.

Prosenjit: There are a lot of Biharis in Bengal

Aadil: Both Ritwik Bhowmik and I were together at the workshops. So, we became very close both on and off set. We had actually a lot of fun even before we came on set.

Ritwik, you were there in Modern Love Mumbai and also Bandish Bandits, but this is a very different kind of a series. So, did you take any pressure because Khakee: The Bihar Chapter was also very successful?

Ritwik Bhowmik: They had a very successful first run and it is still doing very well. I felt very comfortable because I was going into a successful franchise. I knew there was an audience already for Khakee: The Bihar Chapter. And at the same time, I knew that we have to work very hard. It was not pressurizing, but immensely exciting because we had to live up to the expectation of the audiences because there was already a group of people who want to watch what is going to happen in this franchise and there is going to be a new set of audience that is going to come in for the Bengal chapter.

The Bihar Chapter was inspired from a real story, but this is a fictitious one, so how difficult was it to understand your character Chitrangada?

Chitrangada: I play a politician. The writing is the hero when it’s the long format. For me, as politicians there are so many references like women politicians who are so powerful. So, for me watching them and their body language. But when you see the series you will realise that it is a lot about her as a person and what she is going through in her personal life which is very emotional. And then how she switches her personality in front of the public. I think it is the writing, the director which played a very important role in building up the character. We had a great time because it’s an intense role.

Cinema is changing… where every character plays an important role. What do you have to say about that?

Prosenjit: It depends a lot on the writing and here every character has an arc. And all these characters have a very important role to play. Neeraj has always done work with a lot of big actors, not stars. So, he knows how to handle the dynamics. And each of the characters will be remembered in Khakee: The Bengal Chapter. Everybody has a very different layer.

 Ritwik Bhowmik: No two characters are the same or even similar.

 Aadil Zafar Khan: Each character is evolving because a film is more like a comic book and a web show is a novel.

WATCH the trailer of Khakee: The Bengal Chapter: