The Eken – Ruddhaswas Rajasthan actor Anirban Chakrabarti: Juggling between Gandhi and Eken is fun

Just 24 hours before the release of The Eken – Ruddhaswas Rajasthan actor Anirban Chakrabarti – the second feature film of the franchise – Eken Babu, aka Anirban Chakrabarti, was busy rehearsing Chetana’s upcoming play, Mahatma Bonam Gandhi, at Girish Mancha in North Kolkata. Soon after the wrap-up, he got back into the promotion mode for Eken Babu. 

“There were days I played Eken Babu in the morning for SVF’s promotional videos and then went to rehearse the play. Ghast’s the charm of an actor’s life. I enjoy it the most as an actor. If you see it as a challenge, it will be a challenge. But I see it as fun,” he told us. 

The seasoned actor that he is, Anirban leaves no stone unturned to perfect his character as Ekendra Sen – the quintessential Bengali detective. He became a household name as Eken with the Hoichoi web series based on Sujan Dasgupta’s literary work. In 2022, the first feature film from the franchise, The Eken, was released. Along with Anirban as Eken, Suhotra Mukhopadhyay, and Somak Ghosh as his associates, Bapi and Promotho, have become equally popular. Directed by Joydeep Mukherjee, the second film also features Rajatava Dutta, Sandipta Sen, Rajesh Sharma, and others. 

Is Anirban nervous? “I am not that type. I am usually always relaxed. However, with the tremendous popularity of Eken Babu, I get slightly nervous. First, I am the main character and everything happens around me. Second, we have to match the expectations. The amount of love we get is out of the ordinary. We must offer our audience something that will match their expectations,” said the actor. 

Before Suhotra and Somak started their journey as Bapi and Promotho, Shoumo Banerjee and Debapriyo Bagchi (Bubble) used to play the characters. How did Anirban adapt to this change? “For Eken Babu, it did not matter. The character remained the same. Just the appearances changed. For Anirban, there was an initial apprehension. I worked with Shoumo and Bubble for many series and hence we developed chemistry. As Suhotra and Somak entered the scene in the first feature film, I was apprehensive. But that was gone in the first work itself. In this film, everyone will notice the camaraderie between these three,” he said.

Meanwhile, Anirban is gearing up with his play Mahatma Bonam Gandhi – a Chetana Production that will be premiered on April 19 at Rabindra Sadan. “The rehearsals are on in full swing. This is the first time I am working on a historically significant character. People will see a very different Mahatma Gandhi in this play. More than his politics and moment, the play explores his relationship with his eldest son. I am sure our audience will find it interesting,” said the actor.