Exclusive! Srijato on Manabjamin: I wish our society was a tad more civilised and tolerant

Eminent poet Srijato is all set to present his first directorial work Manabjamin to his audience. With Paran Bandyopadhyay, Parambrata Chatterjee, Priyanka Sarkar, Srijit Mukherji, and others in the lead, the film will hit the theatres on January 6. Even before the release, Srijato has already announced his next, Chol Rastaye Shaji Tramline, with Sohini Sarkar and Parambrata. Before the release of his debut, he talks to us exclusively about his expectations, anticipation, and his internal mechanism to handle negativity. 

By his own admission, Srijato is not a tension-prone person. “I am used to going to examination halls with bare preparations. I never have performance anxiety. My point is, something or the other will happen. In the case of Manabjamin, I have done my job. Now it is up to the audience to judge. What is the point in being anxious?” he asks. 

Srijato believes that the scriptwriting of the film has been the most challenging job and he took it very seriously. “I believe the script is the heart and soul of a film. If the script is weak, no grand actor can salvage the film. So I took the time to write it. I made many people read it thoroughly. Srijit (Mukherji), Parambrata (Chatterjee), and Rana (Sarkar) read it multiple times. I have been writing scripts for a while but all of those were for other people. When I wrote it for Rinadi (Aparna Sen) or ID (Indradip Dasgupta), they guided me. This is the first time I wrote a script for my own film,” he says.   

Srijato also mentions his overwhelming experience of working with Paran Bandyopadhyay. “I believe he is the last of the Mohicans. He is magical. He does his own improvisations and brings something out of the world. He is a veteran actor and yet he spent time with us as if he was of our age. It was a delight working with him,” says the director. 

In the trailer, we see Srijit Mukherji, Srijato’s friend, in a comical role. His character says he is the ‘first boy’ of the industry – a banter that has been associated with Srijit for a long time. Talking about his character, Srijato says, “In Bengal, people tend to take themselves very seriously. Srijit and I don’t. We take our work very seriously but not ourselves. Hence, this humour came out so well.”

On the other hand, Srijato has embraced himself to counter the online trolls. He is a known victim of online trolling and yet he refuses to take them seriously. “They have time to write about me. I don’t have enough time to be bothered. Trolls have been plaguing our society for ages. From Rabindranath Tagore to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar – almost all the Bengali stalwarts are trolled at different points in time in history. Bengalis are not known to be tolerant of art, culture, and creativity. I wish things were different and I wish our surroundings were a tad more civilised and tolerant,” he said.