We used to keep hearing Basu Chatterjee’s name again and again in the times of mainstream commercial formula films like Deewar, Zanjeer, etc ruling the box office. He as a director at that time was completely going against type and yet making highly successful cult films like Rajnigandha, Chotisi Baat, Chitchor etc
I myself remember seeing his film Chitchor seven times somewhere in the late 70s or early 80s in Ramkrishna Theatre in Hyderabad and the simplicity of narration that I learnt from it has what pretty much shaped my path towards Rangeela.
Cut to.
20 years later
I was at my office in Mumbai when my receptionist called me and said “someone called Basu Chatterjee has come to meet you”. I asked the receptionist “who is he” and he said “he claims that he is a Director”. I got a shock and I was wondering why he came to my office. In fact I didn’t even know how he looks like as I never saw a picture of his. I walked to the reception to see a gentle looking elderly man and I welcomed him into my room.
Even as I was wondering why he came to meet me I offered him coffee and started telling him how I used to stand in line outside Ramkrishna theatre in Hyderabad to watch his films. He was very pleased and told me that he knew it as I acknowledged that fact many a time in my interviews over the years.
After a chat finally he told me why he came to meet me. Apparently he has a script and a producer but he does not have access to any actors. He was desperately trying to get in touch with Manoj Bajpai but was unable to do so. So he came to me to seek my help in accessing Manoj.
I said “sure” and I went into the other room and called Manoj. His phone was off and so I called his secretary. The secretary told me Manoj was out of town and when I asked him if they knew that Basu Chatterjee was trying to get in touch he said “Yeah, I am figuring out how to get rid of him”
I was pretty taken aback with those words but knowing Manoj, I knew these lines of his secretary could not be of Manoj, but the general drift was very clear to me that Manoj for whatever reasons was not interested in working with Basu Chatterjee.
Then I came in and told Basuji “Manoj is not in town, so I will talk to him and get back.” He chatted for some more time and left.
Then a few days later Basuji called me on phone and said “Apparently Manoj is back in town but I have this feeling that he doesn’t want to work with me”. I didn’t know what to say to that. Then he asked me if I can recommend him to Aftab Shivdasani to listen to his story. I said sure and after hanging up I called Aftab and said “Aftab, Basu Chatterjee wants to meet you”, He said “Sure, sir but who is he?”.
Now knowing Aftab’s age and that he is maybe 2 generations down of Basu Chatterjee that answer didn’t shock me. So I explained to him that Basuji was a highly successful director who made cult films like “Chitchor” etc. Aftab asked “But Sir, what did he do now?” I told Aftab “Look here, I don’t know what he has done now, or what he is going to do but being such a respected senior director the least you can do is to meet him and hear out his story”. Aftab said “Ok sir, please give him my number”. With a sigh of relief I gave Aftab’s number to Basuji and got back to my work.
Two days later I got a call from Basuji thanking me for what I did. I asked him “Sir, so did Aftab come to meet you?”. He said “No, he didn’t have time so he sent his secretary to hear the story. I didn’t know what to say to that. So after a long pause I asked “So did his secretary listen to the story”. He said “No, the secretary after listening to 10 minutes of the story he said he had to rush somewhere. So I couldn’t finish it, “Anyway thanks for whatever you tried to do for me” and he hung up.
That’s the last I heard of Basu Chatterjee somewhere in 2000 and I didn’t even hear his name mentioned since for the last 10 years and now I myself am just left with a faint memory of how I subjected him to my disrespectful respect.
I myself remember seeing his film Chitchor seven times somewhere in the late 70s or early 80s in Ramkrishna Theatre in Hyderabad and the simplicity of narration that I learnt from it has what pretty much shaped my path towards Rangeela.
Cut to.
20 years later
I was at my office in Mumbai when my receptionist called me and said “someone called Basu Chatterjee has come to meet you”. I asked the receptionist “who is he” and he said “he claims that he is a Director”. I got a shock and I was wondering why he came to my office. In fact I didn’t even know how he looks like as I never saw a picture of his. I walked to the reception to see a gentle looking elderly man and I welcomed him into my room.
Even as I was wondering why he came to meet me I offered him coffee and started telling him how I used to stand in line outside Ramkrishna theatre in Hyderabad to watch his films. He was very pleased and told me that he knew it as I acknowledged that fact many a time in my interviews over the years.
After a chat finally he told me why he came to meet me. Apparently he has a script and a producer but he does not have access to any actors. He was desperately trying to get in touch with Manoj Bajpai but was unable to do so. So he came to me to seek my help in accessing Manoj.
I said “sure” and I went into the other room and called Manoj. His phone was off and so I called his secretary. The secretary told me Manoj was out of town and when I asked him if they knew that Basu Chatterjee was trying to get in touch he said “Yeah, I am figuring out how to get rid of him”
I was pretty taken aback with those words but knowing Manoj, I knew these lines of his secretary could not be of Manoj, but the general drift was very clear to me that Manoj for whatever reasons was not interested in working with Basu Chatterjee.
Then I came in and told Basuji “Manoj is not in town, so I will talk to him and get back.” He chatted for some more time and left.
Then a few days later Basuji called me on phone and said “Apparently Manoj is back in town but I have this feeling that he doesn’t want to work with me”. I didn’t know what to say to that. Then he asked me if I can recommend him to Aftab Shivdasani to listen to his story. I said sure and after hanging up I called Aftab and said “Aftab, Basu Chatterjee wants to meet you”, He said “Sure, sir but who is he?”.
Now knowing Aftab’s age and that he is maybe 2 generations down of Basu Chatterjee that answer didn’t shock me. So I explained to him that Basuji was a highly successful director who made cult films like “Chitchor” etc. Aftab asked “But Sir, what did he do now?” I told Aftab “Look here, I don’t know what he has done now, or what he is going to do but being such a respected senior director the least you can do is to meet him and hear out his story”. Aftab said “Ok sir, please give him my number”. With a sigh of relief I gave Aftab’s number to Basuji and got back to my work.
Two days later I got a call from Basuji thanking me for what I did. I asked him “Sir, so did Aftab come to meet you?”. He said “No, he didn’t have time so he sent his secretary to hear the story. I didn’t know what to say to that. So after a long pause I asked “So did his secretary listen to the story”. He said “No, the secretary after listening to 10 minutes of the story he said he had to rush somewhere. So I couldn’t finish it, “Anyway thanks for whatever you tried to do for me” and he hung up.
That’s the last I heard of Basu Chatterjee somewhere in 2000 and I didn’t even hear his name mentioned since for the last 10 years and now I myself am just left with a faint memory of how I subjected him to my disrespectful respect.