Widely acclaimed actor Saswata Chatterjee now dons the glove of a pick pocket, who is a topper in an institute dealing in crime, in Bengali flick Mon Churi.
"There had been films in Hindi like Ram Jaane and Shah Rukh Khan was in his elements with his typical mannerism in the role of a gangster. I had always yearned to do such hardcore criminal's roles other than suave serial killers with a comic touch which were not coming. Perhaps we were too serious about ourselves," Saswata told PTI on the sets of the film where he shares screen space with Tollywood comedy king Kharaj Mukherjee.
Kharaj acts as the Principal of the said institute.
In 'Ram Jaane' Shah Rukh Khan essays a gangster who has been familiarized to the crime world through para dons as an abandoned child..
"Like Ram Jaane, Mon Churi also looks at the seamier (darker) sides of life and encapsulates the story of human beings who live on the fringes of society. But the plots are different," Saswata said.
About the reason why he agreed to do the film despite the risks of doing a debutant director's project, 'Bob Biswas' said, "I had mixed with all these types in my early days, at my 'para chayer dokan.' (neighbourhood tea stall) where every section of people would freely mingle and crack jokes over of 'bhars'(earthen cups) of tea.
"I know of such training sessions in real life where they are taught to cut pumpkins with one stroke of a blade to perfect the art of prising open one's wallet. I heard how they are trained to take blows from a mob after being caught red handed, how they feign injury and then get up and run away all of a sudden," he said with a wink.
"Actually these people may take to small time crimes but they have a heart of gold. They are uncomplicated and they will rush to your help when you are in crisis and not the others," Saswata said.
