Victor Banerjee may have wowed critics as a versatile actor but believe it or not he does not watch his movies as he “hates to look” at himself on screen.
“I don’t see any of my movies,” Banerjee told media persons here on Sunday last. The two exceptions, he mentioned, were maestro Satyajit Ray’s “Gharey Bairey”, in which he puts up a stupendous performance in the role of Nikhilesh, and Hollywood film “Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie’s Pictures”.
The 66-year-old actor, who was here for the Osian’s film festival, said it was Ray who had goaded him to watch “Gharey Bairey” at Gorky Sadan in Kolkata and his co-star in the Hollywood film Peggy Ashcroft who had persuaded him to buy two tickets in London and watch it along with her.
Two films featuring Banerjee, including Rubaiyat Hossain’s “Meherjaan” and an Assamese movie, are set to be screened in the Osian’s festival now on here.
It was in keeping with his revulsion to watch himself on the screen that he gave a miss to the world premiere of the Assamese film, Bidyut Kotoky’s “Ekhon Nodir Nedekha Xipaare”, at Osian’s festival on Saturday night.
“I hate to look at myself on screen. I don’t want to end up confused thinking which side of my face look better before the camera,” he reasoned.
The actor, who has performed with aplomb with several Tollywood commercial films with aplomb besides earning critical acclaim for his roles in Shyam Benegal’s “Kaliyug” and David Lean’s “A Passage to India”, said the toughest time in his career spanning for over three decades was during the shooting of Ray’s “Shatranj Ke Khiladi”.
“My knowledge of Urdu was minimal and I lied that I knew the language well. Later, with the help of Urdu-speaking experts, I was able to speak my lines,” he recalled.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
