Minister Quells Acting Dreams

This is one fire Bengal’s fire services minister stopped even before it started.

This is one fire Bengal’s fire services minister stopped even before it started. Pratim Chatterjee, veteran of 17 Bengali films and five tele-serials, recently turned down an offer to play the role of opposition leader in a big-budget Bengali multi-star movie. According to Chatterjee, the film shows a minister operating out of ‘Lalbari’—which is what Writers’ Building, Bengal’s real seat of power, is also called since it’s painted in a deep shade of red—ordering the demolition of a school building to make way for a factory. Coming in the aftermath of bruising episodes in Singur and Nandigram, this scene got Chatterjee’s goat. And he refused to play the leader who rescues the school.

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Jaideep Mazumdar