Tansen - Jackie Shroff`s dream character

Kolkata: For Jackie Shroff, enacting the character of great Mughal musician Mia Tansen on the silver screen is a dream. The 55-year-old actor said that the film has to be made by a director like Sanjay Leela Bhansali. "If you ever ask me what my all-time dream character is, my answer will be Mia Tansen, the great composer-musician in Hindustani classical music," Shroff told reporters. "And ideally the film should be directed by a person like Bhansali who is a great director and has a marvellous sense of classical music," he said. Shroff`s role of Chunilal in Bhansali`s big budget Hindi film ‘Devdas’ based on Bengali novelist Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay`s universally-loved classic had earned handsome praise. For an extraordinary vocalist like Tansen, known as one of the `Navaratnas` in the court of Mughal emperor Akbar, Bhansali would have been the right person to fully bring out the nuances of such a character, Shroff, who came to the city for a role in Nitish Roy`s Bengali movie ‘Jole Jangale’, said. In 1943, K L Saigal had immortalised the legendary vocalist by lending his voice to the character in a film directed by Jayant Desai. Talking about Bengali films, Shroff said it was upto the directors to offer him roles, and that he was partial to any good script. "Like Nitish, a good friend of mine, had offered me this role of a rich businessman passionate about collecting wild animals. I liked the novelty of the character. I couldn`t turn hi down and the shoot was over in two days. For me the request of a friend like Nitish will always matter," he said. Produced by the Prayag Group, the ‘Jole Jangale’ cast includes Mithun Chakraborty, Mumtaz Sorcar, Rajdeep Gupta and Wriju Biswas among others. Asked why he did not work with prominent Bengali directors after starring in Rituparno Ghosh`s ‘Antarmahal’ in the role of a zamindar way back in 2005, Shroff said, "Why don`t you ask them?" "I don`t know why Rituparno did not consider me for any other role later or why for that matter directors like Goutam Ghosh or Buddhadeb Dasgupta did not approach me." He said he is "so willing" to work with ‘Buddhadebda’. Shroff has appeared in over 150 films in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada and Marathi. The ‘Rangeela’ star, who has not seen ‘Kahaani’ yet but "heard so much about the film," is also willing to work with the film`s maker, Sujoy Ghosh. "People are talking so much about Kahaani and your city. I could not find time yet to watch the film... Would have to squeeze out some time. I have been told about Sujoy`s story-telling craft. He is one among the upcoming directors I would love to work with," Shroff said. Asked about other directors he likes to work with, Shroff named Onir, Dibakar Banerjee and Imtiaz Ali. Shroff feels marketing and promotion cannot on their own ensure the successful run of a film. The actor who has given hit films like ‘Teri Meherbaniyan’, ‘Karma’, ‘Ram Lakhan’, ‘Tridev’ and ‘Parinda’ admitted he never felt insecure or frightened before the release of any of his films. PTI