Abar Proloy-director Raj Chakraborty on Koushani Mukherjee: I want to show that commercial heroines are also good actors

Raj Chakraborty’s Abar Proloy is all set to be dropped on Zee5 on August 11. The 10-episode supercop drama has a huge star cast with Saswata Chatterjee, Paran Bandyopadhyay, Gaurav Chakraborty, Ritwick Chakraborty, and others in the lead. The series also shows Koushani Mukherjee in a never-seen-before avatar as a disciple of the character of a godman, played by Ritwick. 

Also read: Abar Proloy-director Raj Chakraborty: Bengalis don’t take you seriously unless you make a Byomkesh or a Feluda 

The actress is usually seen in glamorous roles in mainstream films. In Abar Proloy, Koushani is in a complete de-glam makeup, clad in a brown uniform. Talking about casting her, Raj said that it was a conscious decision. “I have a special place in my heart for the artistes who are born out of the commercial space in the Bengali cinema. I have the urge to prove to people that given a chance, they can prove that they are good actors and actresses,” he said.

He further added that without a chance in Parineeta and Indubala Bhaater Hotel, no one would know that Subhashree is such a brilliant actress. “I wanted to offer Koushani that chance,” he said. 

Also read: This is how Abar Proloy-director Raj Chakraborty tackles the question of bringing Dev and Subhashree back on the big screen 

Raj expresses his displeasure over the trend of dismissing commercial film actresses as non-actors. He said that people often take no time to judge an actor/actress if they have a commercial film background. “People demoralise them and bash them for being popular through singing, dancing, and fighting. I went through this ordeal for a long time. No one took me seriously and said I have no originality. I want to tell everyone that the potential these so-called actors and actresses with commercial-film backgrounds have, they can compete at the national level. I wanted to give Koushani that chance,” he said. 

After the release of the teaser, the look of Ritwick Chakraborty was criticised for being a copy of Pankaj Tripathi’s look in Sacred Games. Raj said, “Linking things is our nature. I will not say anything. I want people to watch the episodes and then we will talk about it. If I say anything right now, there will be a chance that the story will be revealed.”