Rajat Kapoor admits that Bengali is an alien language to him. Rajat Kapoor also admits that after Hindi, Bengali happens to be the language he is most drawn to. Speaking exclusively to SpotboyE before the launch of his debut Bengali web series Shobdo Jobdo, Rajat Kapoor said, “Working in Bangla was very difficult, because it is an alien language. Though after Hindi, of all the Indian languages Bengali is the closest to me. More than Marathi, Gujarati or even Punjabi, I’m familiar with Bengali. I think I was drawn to Bengali from long ago, after watching the films of Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak.”
Why did he say yes to Shobdo Jobdo? Rajat Kapoor explained, “Firstly I liked the script. I liked the role of Sougata very much. I thought I could really sink my teeth into it. Having said that, every time you say yes to a role, it’s like taking a leap of faith. Because what sounds good on paper might turn out to be absolute rubbish. So it really depends on the director. But I was lucky to get an extremely talented team. Sourav (Chakraborty) is a very good director. He has done a fabulous job. So all three of my criteria were met. I had a good script, a good role and a good director.”
Why did he say yes to Shobdo Jobdo? Rajat Kapoor explained, “Firstly I liked the script. I liked the role of Sougata very much. I thought I could really sink my teeth into it. Having said that, every time you say yes to a role, it’s like taking a leap of faith. Because what sounds good on paper might turn out to be absolute rubbish. So it really depends on the director. But I was lucky to get an extremely talented team. Sourav (Chakraborty) is a very good director. He has done a fabulous job. So all three of my criteria were met. I had a good script, a good role and a good director.”
Was there any particular Bengali word or phrase Rajat had trouble with? The handsome actor smiled and said, “I had trouble with everything! I don’t remember exact words now because there were so many difficult phrases. But it’s an experience to work in a language that you don’t know and still make it convincing as a performance. I had to memorise big chunks of lines and then pretend that I’m saying it and actually meaning it!”
In Shobdo Jobdo, Rajat Kapoor plays Sougata, a well-known thriller writer with two bestsellers under his belt. He is also a popular presence in the Page 3 circuit. But his settled life takes a U-turn when he goes on vacation to North Bengal. Directed by young Sourav Chakraborty, Shobdo Jobdo also stars Paayel Sarkar as Sougata’s wife Aditi and Mumtaz Sorcar as Sulagna. Shobdo Jobdo has started streaming on Hoichoi from 21st February.
Image Source:- SVF Entertainment.