Gaurav Chakrabarty: In the jungle of pretentious films, Tenida And Company is a whiff of fresh air

Gaurav Chakrabarty is currently busy shooting in the hills. He will be playing a key character in Parambrata Chatterjee’s upcoming paranormal thriller for Hoichoi. Meanwhile, he is also looking forward to his upcoming comedy, TeniDa And Company in which he plays an iconic character, Kyabla. With Kanchan Mullick as TeniDa – the famous literary character by Narayan Gangopadhyay, the film is directed by Sayantan Ghosal and will be released on May 19.

Talking about playing Kyabla, Gaurav admitted that he was apprehensive in the beginning. “Sayantan offered me the role a few years ago, I was not sure. I thought that there is a mismatch of age with the person, who was supposed to play Tenida. Later, the team zeroed in on Kanchanda for the character instead. Even then I thought I was too old for Kyabla. Sayantan did a lot of convincing after that,” quipped the actor. 

According to Gourav, it was the script that finally convinced him to play the character. “Sayantan built the character very carefully. Tenida. Pyala, Habul, and Kyabla are a little senior that the literary characters but that is seamlessly woven into the script and it is also justified. We watch so many films trying hard to be cerebral and finally ending up being pretentious. In the jungle of pretentious films, Tenida is a whiff of fresh air. It is simple and a no-nonsense comedy. I have missed this flavour in films. This film will be loved by the people who never read Tenida and those who grew up reading the series and are nostalgic about the characters,” he said. 

However, ever since the first look of the film was released, a section of netizens started complaining about the characters’ age. Sayantan, Kanchan and Gaurav were trolled. “I knew the age-thing was coming and I tried to take the criticism constructively. All I can say about the trolls is that, watch it before you pass judgement. Give the film a chance. Give Sayantan a chance,” the actor said.

Gaurav also admitted that he diligently followed the director to portray the character. “I followed Sougato Basu and Sayantan’s brief to the T. Kyabla is slightly older and yet I had to retain the innocence of the literary character. It was challenging but I enjoyed it tremendously. This was the best outdoor shoot I ever had. With Kanchanda, every moment becomes lovely. During the shoot, Kanchanda told me that this is the first film in which he plays the lead. He is a huge actor and I want all the success comes to him with TeniDa and Company,” said the actor.