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Actor recalls lengthy accordion lessons to satisfy Deepa Mehta

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Press Trust of India Kolkata
Fresh from his acting stint in Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children alongside Seema Biswas of Bandit Queen fame, US-based actor Samrat Chakraborty is now looking forward to work with Sarita Choudhury in loadshedding, a US-Bangladesh production.

Samrat said, "It will be a bilingual film, a joint US-Bangladesh production. I will be sharing space with Missisipi Masala fame Sarita Chowdhury."

Recalling his portrayal of musician Wee Willie Winkie in Midnight's Children, Samrat said that Deepa Mehta was a perfectionist to the core and how he would practice playing accordion for long to the satisfaction of the director.

"Since I did play accordion previously though I am conversant with other musical instruments, I took lessons for about a month in New York City from a Russian and I turned almost a recluse to perfect the steps," he said.
 

He was talking to PTI at the premier of his new Bengali film Sada Kalo Abchha, inspired by Hitchcockian black and white movies.

"Then once the outdoor shooting started in Lanka, I again practiced in between shots and Deepa finally seemed happy," Samrat said.

Coming to Bengali films, Samrat, who had starred as the lead actor in Ringo's Sada Kalo Abchha, described the film as intriguing dealing with someone's identity crisis after a 'mishap'.

"Sada Kalo Abchha is very British, very Hitchcockian, but again very Bengali. In the films of my language, content is the king even if we lack in budgetary and logistical support. Who will think about shooting some parts of a film on mobile and finish shoots in 15 days' flat and think global," the actor said.

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First Published: Nov 27 2013 | 7:06 PM IST

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