Sanyal’s adventurous inning in Hindi cinema

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After he impressed the critics with his role in the psychological thriller, Prague, Delhi-boy Chandan Roy Sanyal awaits the release of Aditya Bhattacharya’s Bombay’s Most Wanted which is set in the underworld of the 90s.
Sanyal, who plays a die-hard Salman Khan fan, in love with a bar girl, says that it took a lot of practice to “be the character he played”.

While the actor is still high on the admiration he received for Prague, he talks about the hard work he put into the thriller. “I play the protagonist — a brilliant architect, who’s insecure and lonely.
Being part of the film was an extensive roller coaster ride for three months. My preparation involved reading books on architecture and interacting with architects. And I finally realised that architects are insomniacs and listen to a lot of music because they are always up preparing papers. This character stayed with me even after a month of shooting,” he says, adding that a non-formula film offers him a lot of scope to showcase his acting skills.
But is there a fear of getting bracketed by doing a heavy-duty, offbeat film? Interestingly, the actor doesn’t believe in the term, ‘offbeat cinema’. After all, as a movie buff he grew up watching all kinds of films from Satyajit Ray to Manmohan Desai and Mrinal Sen to Bimal Roy and Ramesh Sippy. “We loved Kamal Hasaan in Pushpak as much as we did in Saagar,” he says, adding, “I do films which excite me and have a strong storyline.”
After having done films like Kaminey and Rang De Basanti with big banners and top-notch actors, ask him how Bollywood has treated him so far?
And the pukka Dillawalla replies, “I am an outsider, who walked from the streets of Regar Pura and has performed on stage in almost every part of the world. So, it’s been a tough and adventurous and eclectic and crazy ride in the big world of movies, but I always knew it was never going to be an easy ride anyway. I am a Mathematics graduate from Delhi University and born and brought up in a lower middle class Bengali home in Karol Bagh. I taught in a junior college and did all kinds of menial jobs like selling newspapers to survive. I have seen life closely,” he says.
“It will be great to have a Delhi film industry. Hopefully one day!” he signs off.