Amartya Ray, who stepped out of FTII Pune this year, having completed his film studies, already has a big Bolly project on his CV. Maidan, his third film as an actor, is an Ajay Devgn starrer, where he will be seen essaying a young Chuni Goswami. Apart from acting, directing and music, Amartya is passionate about exploring fashion, too. At a recent t2 shoot, he talks about his film and memories from the set of Maidan, expected to release soon. Excerpts:
Amartya’s street-style look was in a bright yellow and white shirt paired with charcoal pants from Scribbology. The casual-cool look was accessorised with jewellery from Wrap Game and shades from The Tribe
Have you always been into sports?
I have been into football. There are so many clubs around Rabindra Sarobar Lake… I used to play there as a child. Unlike many Indians, I was never mad about cricket. Since I played football, I had that thing for football. I used to always like dribbling.
How did you get this film?
I remember exactly the moment when it happened. After I did my first Hindi film 22 Yards and Uronchondi in Bengali, there were many casting agencies in Bombay that knew about me. I was in Calcutta around that time and I got a call from Bombay one afternoon. They told me it is a film with Ajay Devgn and it is about India’s golden era of football and they were looking for an actor to play Chuni Goswami. I heard Chuni Goswami, football and Ajay Devgn and I knew I had to go. The casting process was nice. First, it was in Calcutta and then in Bombay in Mukesh Chhabra’s office. Vaibhav Gham cast us. In different rounds, we were having the audition and then I got the part. But I remember one funny incident that happened during this process. I had hair bangs. So, when I went for the audition, someone asked me why I kept those bangs as the look of Chuni Goswami doesn’t go with it. I had this long hair because I play music, so I went with this rock-n-roll vibe. (Laughs) I went for a look change. When I came out, everyone was surprised. That look matched Chuni Goswami’s looks… but it was fun for me to do that.
How did you prepare to play such a legendary character?
Amartya wanted to try a look that aligns with his personal style statement — a little grungy. Stylist Yashvi Jain gave him an olive tencel jacket designed with applique and topstitch detail. She accessorised it with a bracket ring and layered chains as a neckpiece from Wrap Game
I started doing research as soon as I was locked for the role. First of all, in such a large-scale film the process is not really in our hands. Physically, we went through months of intense training to play this game on screen. The first time we met our director Amit Sharma, he told us that in this film he doesn’t want to cheat the game. He said that’s not his treatment. So, if there’s a dribble, run or whatever the techniques were, we had to do it. Since Chuni Goswami was a master dribbler, he was a dancer in the football team, there were some of his dribbles that I had to try to perfectly do it… I used to pick up from my favourite dribblers and football players like Messi, Ronaldo….
The other side of the character was Chuni’s charisma. Something that he was known for. He was always known to be a charismatic young player. Particularly for the age of his that I played on screen. There were certain things that I wanted to bring in… the way he walked and talked. Nothing was closer to him than the fields. I was trying to get into his mindset and there was an interesting thing about the age that I played for him on screen… there is hardly any archival video footage of that. So there is no such thing that an actor could look at and replicate. This is an interesting thing, as I feel, rather than replication, reinterpretation can bring a lot more to any character, keeping the essence of the character the same. I read books but it was good for me that there was no video footage.
In the Maidan, Chuni’s name is uttered by every single person… in my house also my uncle was a sports journalist, and I heard a lot of stories from him. Another maternal uncle of mine spent a lot of time in Maidan… I got as much information about the stories as I could from him. I saw a lot of his interviews that he gave in his later life. He was a born star; I really tried to bring that on me when I was acting him on screen. I used to love his playing techniques as much as I loved his personality.
At FTII you were also focusing on direction and worked on short films. Did you always want to do both?
I think the world always finds it easy to put a label on an artiste. I do three things. I act and direct but music is also one of my identities. I try to become an artiste… all these things are connected and aligned. I believe in telling stories. I studied engineering, but after that when my friends started preparing for MBA or MTech, I knew that if I have to study further, I can only study films. So, I gave an exam in FTII and cracked it and it was inside me to learn how to tell a story. FTII was one of the places that taught me how to tell a story… so I turned to direction but acting happened way before that. Acting is a privileged profession and it gave me an opportunity to live different lives. I had to deconstruct and reconstruct myself for my characters. So, everything I do is my identity.
Do you take suggestions from your mother (actress Chaiti Ghoshal) when such important roles come to you?
My mother definitely helps me because I trust her experience and intelligence. She inspires me every day. I feel I learn every time I have an in-depth discussion with her. My mother never told me how to do something but she just helped me to decide whether or not I should take up a script. In general, we discuss the cinema at home. There’s a lot to learn on any evening spent at home. Ma is definitely an integral part of me in becoming an artiste.
Where all did you shoot for Maidan?
In Calcutta, we shot at Maidan and Mohammedan Sporting Club. Mohammedan Sporting Club will be very special to me as I had a shot with Ajay Devgn there. Rest we shot at Madh Island in Bombay. We shot there for months and a stadium was created. We worked like crazy. Running with that jersey No. 10… but all of it was worth it. I think Maidan will be a big film in my career. For three years, it felt like we were all part of a football team preparing for an actual league. I tell one of the boys from here that whatever we had to do is done, people will remember us as a part of Maidan now.
For his Mohammedan Sporting Club look, a location for his film, Yashvi gave him a multi-coloured coord from Muvazo. The look was accessorised with shades from The Tribe and jewellery from Wrap Game
Were you star-struck the first time you met Ajay Devgn?
When I saw him for the first time obviously because all of us grew up watching him but I remember that he never made a scene like that. The character he is doing is very intense, he used to carry that characterisation. At times he used to do pranks with us and have fun… I was in awe of him the whole time. There was an intense scene between us and I looked at his eyes and realised why he has been in this industry for so many years.
Styling: Yashvi Jain
Hair and make-up: Bhaskar Biswas
Location: The Astor Hotel