#BigInterview Jisshu Sengupta: I am an ‘Indian actor’, not just a ‘Bengali actor’

Be it Bikram Roy, husband of Rani Mukerji’s tough-talking top cop in ‘Mardaani’ and its sequel or husband of Kangana Ranaut’s legendary Rani Lakshmibai in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019), Jisshu Sengupta has excelled in roles of independent minded women characters’ partners over the last few years. The powerhouse actor was recently seen opposite Vidya Balan in a film based on the life of the eponymous math genius Shakuntala Devi.
Just like Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Paoli Dam, Saswata Chatterjee and Swastika Mukherjee, Jisshu stepped into Bollywood with a significant body of work in Bengali film industry. This includes films with the likes of Rituparno Ghosh and Srijit Mukherji.

However, for Jisshu he has never been a “Bengali actor” but an “Indian actor”, as Rituparno Ghosh once advised him to be. “Ritu da told me that we all make Indian films, only in different languages, so I solely believe I am an Indian actor part of Indian films,” he told ETimes during an exclusive chat while reminiscing early days of his career and also remembering Rituparno Ghosh who passed away in 2013.
“While we were making ‘Abohomaan’, Ritu da had a question for me that later changed my approach towards acting,” Sengupta adds. “He had asked, when you are acting, do you have any idea why you act the way you are? I answered, no, I only react to a particular situation as I feel it, as per the script. I also asked him, am I wrong? He replied, no, it’s great that you are spontaneous, but I would suggest for once try to forget the script, and develop a backstory of your character, think of his childhood, how was his family, or what things shaped your adult life. At that time, I had no training in acting, so what Ritu da said had moved me, and since then it has stayed with me,” explains Jisshu also played the lover to Ghosh’s protagonist in his film ‘Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish’ (2012).

Coming back to the dashing actor’s recent work, it justifies the claim that he’s an Indian actor. Not just Bengali and Hindi films, he has acted in three Telugu films in recent times. In NTR: Kathanayakudu (2019), directed by Krish with whom he had worked in Manikarnika, he was seen as the real-life character of filmmaker LV Prasad, who had introduced NT Rama Rao as an actor in the 1949 film ‘Mana Desam’. This film was followed by ‘Aswathama’ (2020) and ‘Bheeshma’ (2020), in which he is an antagonist.

“To get a chance to work in Telugu films is fascinating and also eye-opening as cinema is like a religion there,” Sengupta adds. “Their films score unbelievably well at the box office there, and everyone, be it the spot-boy or the producer, is treated with great respect,” shares Jisshu who will soon be seen in another Hindi film ‘Durgavati’ which also stars Bhumi Pednekar in the lead.