KOLKATA: Actor Ambarish Bhattacharya, who played Rahul Banerjee‘s father in this serial, has put down his papers from the production company and has decided never to work with Leena Gangopadhyay and Saibal Banerjee’s production house. Bhattacharya, who was also shooting with Rahul in Talsari, has decided never to work with the production company again. “In the last two months, we shared the same room because we were working on the same mega-serial. We spent most of the day together. We would eat together, sing songs, and read. I am still traumatised. I was shooting with him till 3 in the afternoon and then I heard he was gone. I couldn’t bring myself to see his body. If I had gone, I would have fallen sick,” Bhattacharya said. He said he has already told Prosenjit Chatterjee that, a day after returning to Kolkata, he called Magic Moments to inform them that he would not work on any of their future projects. “I have resigned from another serial, ‘Chirosokha’, with the same production house. I can’t bring myself to shoot at Movietone Studio, where I worked with Rahul for two months. I didn’t like the conflicting statements I heard from the production house after the incident. Everyone knows this was an accident. But since the serial was being made by this production house, it should have been more responsible and sensitive in its statements,” he said. The actor is aware about the close relationship Rahul shared with Gangopadhyay. “He would show her every article he wrote, and she would do the same. There was a cultural connection too. I had expected empathy from her in her statements about Rahul’s death. I do not know why that was missing. Leena-di doesn’t deserve the criticism she is facing now. But it is true that a serious mistake has been made. Things would not have reached this point if she had acted differently from the very first day,” Bhattacharya said. The actor’s shot in Talsari was not in the sea. “I would have refused if I had been asked to do such a shot. I never do such risky scenes. Many artists are emotional and can’t say no. They feel taking that risk will improve the shot. Perhaps I am more practical. In our industry, eau de cologne is given instead of Dettol. Technicians risk their lives while shooting. That is why no one is opposing the strike called from Tuesday. Everyone now wants a proper SOP. The need for an SOP for all production houses shows there is negligence across the industry. I am very scared and not at peace at now. I will not do any megaserials unless the SOP is drawn up. But it is certain that I will never work with this production house,” he said.
