'Bengali filmmakers don't have the spine to make political movies'

KOLKATA: When Utpal Dutt staged his political play Barricade 50 years ago, it was a 'turbulent' time in India leading to the Emergency. Barricade spoke of 1933 Berlin —the time when Adolf Hitler's fascist Nazis took over Germany.

As Barricade clocks 50 years, thespian Debesh Chattopadhyay revisits Dutt's iconic play that stood upto fascism, autocrats and dictators.

Through judiciary, media, common man, intellectuals and doctors, which represent the pillars of democracy and also play the main characters in Barricade, Chattopadhyay questions civil society and its consciousness.

On Wednesday, the play was staged at Arts Acre auditorium in New Town in presence of eminent personalities like Dhritiman Chatterjee, Bibhash Chakraborty and Shubhaprasanna.

However, the thespian was a tad disappointed with the reaction of the audience. "At the university auditorium, the reaction was spontaneous. Here, most people kept the reaction to themselves," he said.

A two hour and 20-minute play, it took him 10 days and 12 hours to complete this production.

Chattopadhyay hasn't made any textual changes to Dutt's play. "Not a single word or sentence was altered," said the director of hit plays like Bikele Bhorer Shorshe Phool, Tughlak, Fetaru and Shey.

However, he has taken liberty with the design. Not someone to work with 'stars' in theatre, Chattopadhyay believes his "actors are the stars of Barricade."

Chattopadhyay's two plays – Barricade and George Orwell's 1984? – are being staged simultaneously in Kolkata. Both are political and topical plays. He believes the theatre practitioners in Kolkata can still stage political plays, but the same cannot be said about the Bengali filmmakers.

"They don't have the strength and spine to make political films. In Tollywood, directors don't know how to make a content of a film. They please the producer and earn through films. But don't expect content from them," he said in an exasperated tone.

His debut film was Paoli Dam-starrer Natoker Moto in 2015. His next film,Iye: The Others, starring Debshanker Halder, Nitya Ganguly and Arpita Ghosh, is awaiting release.

But the thespian no longer wants to follow the set pattern of filmmaking. Rather, he will go for crowdfunding campaigns to make movies. "I say whatever I have to through my theatre. The things I can't say through theatre will find space in my films," he said.