Veteran actor Biswajit Chatterjee has said the Bengali cinema is passing through a sad phase as the makers of mainstream movies are shifting from works based and inspired by literature.
Films inspired or adapted from works of Rabindranath Tagore, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, Saratchandra Chattopadhyay and Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay should be made, he said.
"The present slide in Bengali cinema is due to the fact that what we are witnessing now are not true Bengali films... films that used to be made in the '60s and '70s," Chatterjee said Wednesday.
Major Bengali films in his career included 'Chowringhee', 'Kuheli', 'Srimaan Prithviraj' and 'Jai Baba Taraknat'.
"We need films like 'Belaseshe' made by the director duo of Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay and Nandita Roy which retained the rich legacy of Bengali cinema of our times having literary influences. But such films are few and far between," he said.
Double version films like 'Amanush' by Shakti Samanta, which was a typical Bengali entertainer, are no more being made, said Chatterjee, father of Bengali superstar Prosenjit.
A live show would be held on September 16 focusing on his career spanning over five decades.
On this show, he said, "I am a performer and I will love to be called a performer."