Still under the spell of thespian Soumitra Chatterjee's baritone voice, Buddhadev Dasgupta's award winner 'Mando Meyer Upakhyan' actor June Maliah says hearing anecdotes from the living legend itself can be an experience.
"It is always a huge feeling, a sense of deja vu to be on the side of Soumitra Chatterjee, a living encyclopaedia on Tagore works, on theatre colossus Sisir Bhaduri and off course Ray and to hear from him," June, who is part of the bard-inspired 'Jara Roddure Bhijechhilo' told PTI here.
June, having turned up in Srijit Mukherjee's 'Baishe Srabon', the title resonating with Tagore's death anniversary date - a part of every Bengalee's social calendar - averred "He is what Leonardo Da Vinci is to the Europeans."
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"Tagore is in our DNA. We can't misuse Tagore. We feel flicks like 'Jara Ruddure Bhijechhilo' is aimed at helping the next generation to relate to the genius through references in his poetry and songs like 'Birpurush' and 'Chokher Aloy Dekhechhilam'," she said.
The 'Bong Connection' actor, whose performance in Podokhep also fetched brownie points, feels upbeat about literature making a comeback in Bengali films.
"With the Bengali audience no more hooked to the copy of southern films, literature is coming up in a big way as the audience wants a good narration," she said.
June, who would confirm she had never been a mainstream film actor, would rate Buno Haansh besides Meghe Dhaka tara as the ones having changed the course of Bengali cinema with literary contents.
Soumitra said, "I agreed to do this film as it brought forth an important message in today's society. The truth about Taore having been part of our psyche and how much he will be relevant in future.
