I did 'Ponthan Mada' with Laboni Sarkar, which had won many awards.
I believe Bengal is a part of India.
My films play only in Bengal, and my audience is the educated middle class in the cities and small towns. They also play in Bombay, Madras and Delhi where there is a Bengali population.
The only thing redeeming about my being born a Bengali is being brought up reading Rabindranath and Saratchandra. Other than that, the stagnancy of this city put me off all along.
I was born in Bangalore but grew up in Kolkata and I read, write and speak Bengali.
I love the sufiana style of writing in Tagore's poetry.
As I grew, I began learning and speaking a word or two in Bengali and that increased my friends circle.
I do speak a bit of Bengali.
I am a Bengali, I like my rice.
I want to live in Kolkata; I don't want to live in Europe - I can't write there. I write in Bengali, and I need to be surrounded by the Bengali language and culture.
Calcutta is like another world. People there are very special and grateful.
My memory of my household is of one immersed in books and music. I have a very intimate relationship with Bengali literature, particularly Tagore, and my interest besides reading then was music.
Earlier, people used to say no to regional films, but now people all over the world have started watching Bengali cinema.
Being a Bengali, I have kept in touch with the cinema of my mother tongue.
I'd say, in some ways, I'm very Bengali. I have a love of the arts - dance, music, visual arts - which I think is a very Bengali trait. I also love food, which I know is very Bengali!
To me he will not just be remembered as a great player and a lovely human being, but as somebody who tried to learn Bengali for the last 14 years but never managed to do so!
I feel I can express the nuances of the Bengali lifestyle and ways of thinking better than other cultures.
I like to read Bengali novels and short stories. I am not that fond of reading English books, as I don't have a connect with it.
I'm obsessed with all things Bengali, man. I love fish, my maid is Bengali, I acted in Bengali and Bangladeshi films.
I am learning Bengali because I want to dub for myself.
We even had a different word for Christmas in my language, Bengali: Baradin, which literally meant 'big day.'
