His decision seems to have paid off. The actor will now be seen in 32-year-old Florian Gallenberger's Bengali film, Shadows Of Time. The 120-minute film is part-sponsored by the German government for an international art house audience. Gallenberger's I Want To Be had won the Oscar for Best Short Film in 2001.
Shadows Of Time tells the story of a couple and their life spread over 60 years. The film is divided into three parts: Sikandar Agarwal and Tumpa Das play the couple in their teens, Prashant and Tannistha Chatterjee portray the middle years and Soumitra Chatterjee and Utpal Dutt's widow, Sova Sen, depict the older years.
Ronjita Kulkarni catches up with Prashant to talk about his first foreign film:
How did Shadows Of Time come to you?
I had just returned from a shoot -- Saurabh Shukla's Mudda -- when I received an SMS on my phone. I called the concerned office but did not get through that day. I did not pay too much attention to it I was quite busy with my projects.
A few days later, I received another call. I was told that a Florian Gallenberger had come down from Germany and wanted to meet me. I went to Sun 'n' Sand [a hotel in suburban Mumbai] where he was staying. They were hunting for an actor.
Florian had seen a bit of Chhal. He liked me in it, though I did not know it at the time. I went for a screen test and was selected. This was in November 2002.
Tell us about your first meeting with Gallenberger.
I wondered what he would be like. I was already in awe of him because he had won an Oscar. But he seemed very friendly. He is very intelligent.
The different cultures make you look at things with a different perspective. I understand what he wants now. We have become friends and share a lot of things. Once, I even took him to a friend's place where I played Hindi and Sufi music for him.
Any special care for your looks in the film?
I have to keep a stubble and long hair in keeping with the character. I play a man between 20 and 45 years. My hair has been styled by Waldemar Pokromski, who was the hairstylist for films like Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List and Roman Polanski's The Pianist.
So we talk in first names about Liam [Neeson], Tom [Hanks], Steven [Spielberg] and Ralph [Fiennes]. Waldemar shares his experiences with working with the Hollywood stars like, "Steven is such a workaholic." It's amazing. Waldemar is organising some personal pictures of Liam Neeson, Tom Hanks and some others for me.
Tell us about your first day at the shoot.
I have only shot for a day. It was my introductory scene and it was very important because people had to know right away that Ravi [his character] had grown up.
I was very nervous. I could not sleep the earlier night. When I reached the sets at 7.30 am, no one recognised me. People walked right past me. I was wearing a faded kurta, dhoti and chappals, with my hair done.
Florian took one look at me and exclaimed, "Oh My God!" because I resembled the child [played by Sikandar Agarwal] so much. The first day was a hit for me.
Tell us about the film.
It is a period film, set in pre-independent through post-independent India. It is a tragic love story, but it is very logical. Every scene in Shadows Of Time makes sense.
The story is universal and could have been set anywhere. Florian decided to set it in and around Kolkata. It is shot in sync sound and shooting will be over by April.
I will have to travel with them when the film is screened at festivals. If they get a distributor, it may release in Kolkata.
To come back to illogical films after this will be very difficult. Though my other films are good, there are some scenes where kuch na kuch problem hota hai [there is some problem or the other].
How did you manage with the Bengali language?
I had to really work hard. I do not know Bengali so I had a teacher. I understand Bengali well, but my inhibition stops me from speaking the language.
I do not really need the Bengali accent. Sikandar is a Bihari. So I speak Bengali with a North Indian accent. I am very confident of my lines. Accent is not really a big issue because there are subtitles in German and English.
But the good thing is that one does not have to understand the language to understand the film.
Tell us your future plans.
I am not interested in only making money. I want to be associated only with good projects, nothing frivolous. If a filmmaker gives me a bound script, it means he has put a lot of work into it.
I am doing [former Channel V head] Shanshank Ghosh's Vaisa Bhi Hota Hai, which will release soon. There is also Saurabh Shukla's Mudda, where I play a college-going Jat; Indranil Goswami's untitled film, where I play a journalist like Rajdeep Sardesai and Narendra's Wadalkar's silent film,The Light, where I play a mime actor.
