Chiranjeet Chakraborty is waiting in the living room filled with paintings made by him as I walk into his Southern Avenue apartment for the interview. Pointing at one of the frames, he says, ‘This is a 3D painting. Click a photo on your phone and you’ll see the effect.’ We laugh and settle down to talk about his recent turn as Niren Bhaduri aka Bhaduri Moshai — a former CBI officer who solves mysterious cases after his retirement — in the Parambrata Chattopadhyay-directed Hoichoi web series Parnashavarir Shaap. Excerpts from the chat.

What got you interested in Parnashavarir Shaap?

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: I am open to doing films on different subjects. For me, the important thing is who the maker is and the script. I liked the script and the director of Parnashavarir Shaap (Parambrata Chattopadhayay), so naturally I said yes.

What did you do to prepare for the role of Bhaduri Moshai?

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: I read the novel (in Niren Bhaduri Samagra by Souvik Chakraborty). After reading the script and the book, I had in mind the mannerisms of Bhaduri Moshai… how he walks, talks and behaves. I have been doing this for the past 50 years, so it comes to me naturally. I think the characterisation has clicked with the audience. People are telling me that I’m looking like a superstar who can do so many things. This is exactly how Bhaduri Moshai is. He can do a lot of things.

You have delivered long slokas in quite a few scenes…

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: Yes. I was a little worried as my throat was troubling me. But it came out really well at the end. I did not use my heavy voice to deliver the dialogues; I chose to keep it soothing, which made me sound different. Bhaduri Moshai has long monologues but he takes pauses while talking. Dubbing helped.

What was the most challenging part of filming this series?

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: I had doubts regarding the makeup and the visual representation of Dakini in the series. I gave Parambrata a lot of input. We shot the series in Takdah. It was challenging as we were shooting till late in the night in the high hills. I had to climb up to the place where we were shooting. It would rain heavily. Half of my energy went on doing that, else I would have been able to concentrate more on the acting part. I used to get distracted and disturbed.

How was it to work with Parambrata Chattopadhyay as director?

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: He is fantastic. He is very logical and innovative. He writes well. He wasn’t acting in the film, so as an actor he was not able to contribute to the film. I am sure that was challenging.

The kind of work you’re doing now is poles apart from the films that made you popular, like Beder Meye Jyotsna. Looking back, how do you feel about the actor you were back then?

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: Acting has become easier now. You can now behave like a character. Back then, stories were unrealistic fairy tales. We had to become the character when we were playing a goon, villain or a hero. Heroes in films would get hit by someone but in a second he would wake up like a snake. We had unrealistic dialogues to deliver. These dialogues would be appreciated by the masses. But in today’s films, nobody can say lines like, ‘Marbo ekhane lash porbe shashane’. Now we just get appreciated by an elite audience. We are far from the mass audience. We are not making films for the masses. Bengali cinema is lacking in that aspect. We don’t have stars who can pull off a film. Masses watch films with stars. We were the last of the ‘stars’.

What are your priorities as an actor at this stage of his life?

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: The hunger as an actor will always be there. I want to do interesting roles. To say yes to a film, I need to have a good script and a good director. I might slash my fees if everything else falls into place! (Laughs)

Are there any dream roles that you are yet to try?

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: I wanted to play Feluda and Kabuliwala. Sabyasachi (Chakrabarty) has already done Feluda. Let’s see how Mithun (Chakraborty) does in (Suman Ghosh’s) Kabuliwala. There’s nothing left for me as such.

There are roles that I loved working on and that were challenging for me, like in Paapi, Pratik and Phiriye Dao. After watching Paapi, Mithun told me that I had done really well. Phiriye Dao was my own direction. I hanged myself straight for 25 seconds. I learnt the technique from a Chinese person. I had created an exceptional situation in the film.

Which directors have you enjoyed working with the most?

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: There are so many. I loved working with Rituparno Ghosh, Prabhat Roy, Atanu Ghosh and Srijit Mukherji. Big directors like Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Tarun Majumdar never took me in their films. I want to work with Goutam Ghose.

What are the other projects you’re working on?

Chiranjeet Chakraborty: I finished the shoot for Pathikrit Basu’s film Dabaru. I am working on Paromita Munsi’s Hema Malini. I don’t get great roles. I am very selective about my films.