Exclusive! Sohini Sarkar: I don’t deny the discord with Ranojoy. If it gets fixed organically, we will accept it

Soon after the success of Hoichoi’s Sampurna, Sohini Sarkar dives into the promotion of Arindam Sil’s Byomkesh Hatyamancha. Traditionally, she has been playing Satyabati, Byomkesh’s (played by Abir Chatterjee) wife in the franchise. Along with these two actors, Suhotra Mukhopadhyay will be seen as the new Ajit – the sleuth’s friend-cum-assistant. Paoli, along with Arna Mukhopadhyay, will be seen in pivotal roles. Meanwhile, the fallout with her boyfriend actor Ranojoy Bishnu has been talked about in the media. Before the release of Byomkesh Hatyamancha, Sohini spoke about the love for her character that is different from the novel, the way it has been restructured by Arindam and her much-talked-about breakup with actor Ranojoy. Read on…

Arindam Sil’s Satyabati is way more proactive than Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s Satyabati. How do you see this difference?

Around the world most detectives are single or their spouses have little to do in their life of detection. In our films, Satyabati’s character makes Byomkesh more real and relatable. I am glad that Arindamda has deviated from the novels in this respect because my portrayal has always been appreciated. Arindamda has chalked down the broader outline of his version of Satyabati’s character, and I brought in the nuances to make the character brighter and better. I follow his brief.

So you love Arindam Sil’s Satyabati more than Saharadindu’s character?

Of course, I love the way Arindamda and the scriptwriters have treated the character. She is intelligent and smart, and she takes part in Byomkesh’s problem-solving journey. Arindamda has categorically made it clear that his sleuth is much closer to a real-life human being, who falls in love, has emotions, shops for his wife and solves cases. In the first film Har Har Byomkesh, which is based on Bahni Patanga, Arindamda has presented two diametrically opposite love stories of Byomkesh and Satyabati, and Shakuntala and Rathikanta Chowdhury. While Byomkesh and Satyabati’s relationship is about trust and exchange, Shakuntala’s love story is about lust.

Byomkesh Hatyamancha is made hurriedly – in two months. Do you think that this rush affects filmmaking and creativity?

I am not a filmmaker. I act and I am an apprentice. On one hand, I have always studied at the last moment during my student life and yet scored well. So, I don’t believe all the films that are made in hurry are essentially bad. On the other hand, my mother has always told me that I would score much better if I would study throughout the year. It is a common perception that if you rush, it impacts the quality of work. But the reality of Bengali cinema is we don't have much choice. The days of shooting are decreasing every day. When I started, it was not like that. Phoring (a 2013 drama by Indranil Roychowdhury) had a long shooting schedule. Atanu Da’s (Ghosh) 2013 thriller Rupkotha Noy has an ensemble cast and I was not a protagonist. Yet the number of days I shot in the film was much higher than a recent day project in which I play the protagonist. Today, we probably cannot afford it. If the number of shooting days goes up, the budget will go up also. That is problematic in this scenario, especially after the pandemic.

In Byomkesh, however, there is a good thing. Abir, I and to some extent, Arindamda have developed a certain amount of muscle memory. It is because we have worked on a lot of Byomkesh projects. Also, Arindamda has a lovely team, which is efficient and it handles the production process very smoothly.

Byomkesh Hatyamancha will be released along with Raj Chakraborty’s Dharmajuddho. What is your opinion on releasing two big films together?

As an audience, I would like to watch all these three films – Byomkesh Hotyamancha, Dharmajuddho and Bhotbhoti. Tatha (Tathagata Mukherjee, director of Bhotbhoti) approached me to work on the film as a character and hence, I read the script of Bhotbhoti. It is very interesting and we have not seen anything in Bengali before. In fact, when I learnt Bibriti Chatterjee will be playing the character I was approached with, I thought she is a much better choice. The moot point is, that it is going to be a lovely film. So is Dharmajuddho which features brilliant actors like Swatilekha Sengupta, Ritwick Chakraborty, Subhashree Ganguly and so on. This film was supposed to be released in 2020, before the pandemic. I think all these films are getting released together because of the backlog created by the pandemic. Rajda (Chakraborty, director of Dharmajuddho) and the SVF team (producer of Byomkesh Hatyamancha) are not insane to release films together that divide shows and audiences. I want both films to succeed. More success means more money generation and that will bring more producers and investment. And finally, I will get more work.

On a personal note, what is your relationship status, especially vis-à-vis Ranojoy Bishnu? Are you still calling yourself single as you claimed in late April this year on social media?

Relationship status depends on many things. While I am a private person and never wanted to make my private life a public discussion, a sweet and comforting relationship shows. If you are in a loving relationship, you will find it difficult to hide the excitement of it from the world. Ranojoy has been a friend since 2013. We have a lot more photos together that are unpublished than those that we have on social media. There has been a problem in our relationship and that got reflected on social media. I am not a person who posts every bit of my life on social media. I post holiday photos days after I am back in Kolkata. However, there is no denying that there was a fallout between Ranojoy and me and that came out on social media. I don’t want to rush on to anything. If it gets fixed organically, we will accept it. If it doesn’t happen organically, we will have to deal with it.