Actor Swastika Mukherjee takes on the role of an investigative journalist in Durgapur Junction, the new Bengali film directed by Arindam Bhattacharya. Playing someone who has to navigate a demanding and risky case, the actor opened up to Hindustan Times about the larger issues of journalistic integrity, how so much has changed with the onset of social media, and what it takes to be a celebrity today. (Excerpts)
On Durgapur Junction
The actor is hopeful that audiences will like Durgapur Junction, admitting that Bengali Cinema is in a good space now. She says, “The hope is that the audience comes to theatres and watches our film. I think we are in a good space now, overall, as people are going to cinemas, and the films that have released in the recent past are doing well. All kinds of genres are being tried. There’s a Manikbabur Megh, which is such a personal film, and then we have a Puratawn, so I think people are watching all kinds of films.”
“Now with Durgapur Junction, the genre is that of a thriller which audiences will love. Overall, I feel Indian audiences have a knack towards thrillers. I don’t think we have worked in such a fresh premise related to medical and pharmaceutics-related stories. As an artist, I always try to bring something new to the table,” she adds.
‘There is such a mad rush for breaking news’
The actor opens up on playing Ushahsie, a fearless journalist based in Durgapur, whose keen interest in politics and crime drives her to dig deep into one of the city’s most controversial cases.
Is it a tough job being a journalist? She says, “I genuinely feel that before the advent of social media, journalists had a really tough job. To find out stories, when things were not available at the tip of your finger, I am sure they had to work way harder. Now, with social media, that has changed. The legwork has come to ‘fingerwork’ now, and we try to get all the information on the phone rather than actually reaching out and checking… what is missing nowadays is the fact-check. It can’t all be hearsay. The person needs to really do the fact checking whether the incident has even taken place. There is such a mad rush for breaking news with hundreds of portals trying to get it first. But has the incident even happened? I have seen in my own experience that a negative news becomes viral way more than a positive one. Once the misinformation goes viral and creates chaos, later on even when we check and say that the information was not right, that bit is not getting the same traction. It is a very unfortunate time we are living in where we are running and don’t care to look back at all.”
Swastika reflects on her own personal journey as an actor and how she has seen this shift. She says, “When I started working 25 years back, there was a filter on sensible, sensitive, good journalists on what should go out in the open and what should not. There was a respect and responsibility, but today where we are, nobody gives a f*** about whether this is sensible enough to be written. I think today there is a competition between who can open more trash cans. It is also such a pressure on all of us where one has to think 5000 times before I say or write something, as my words can be twisted.”
‘We are living in a very chaotic, pathetic time’
The actor recounts two specific examples. “In a recent interview where I had mentioned, in a fun and casual way, that my daughter and sister are such huge fans of Jeet (the two actors were in a brief relationship years ago) and they adore him so much… where my daughter keeps telling me that she will not forgive me for not being with him. Now the portals that have picked this up say that my daughter disapproves my choice for leaving Jeet. Then there are the comments where people are shaming me and saying I didn’t deserve it. What I said in the interview and what made it to the headline… there is no similarity,” she says.
Swastika cites another instance, saying, “Another incident was when Anirban Bhattacharya and I had participated at an event, where we were reading letters written by stalwarts. Then one portal put my and Anirban’s photo and picked up a line from the letter which had an expression of heartbreak and love. In a second, people started cussing both of us, not getting that the quote was not even mine! It was written to Rabindranath Tagore. Nobody read the article and we both were slammed for something that both of us had nothing to do with. We are living in a very chaotic, pathetic, disturbing time where I feel that as journalists, people are letting go of their basic responsibilities.”
She adds, “Since I get to play an investigative journalist in Durgapur Junction, I felt that the job demands a lot more pressure, a lot of people-pleasing, where you can’t say this or that, and yet you don’t want to sell your spine. Yet she wants to pursue that story. Ushashie does not even get the support of her husband- he is irritated and tells her that she is just doing a job. What is the need to protest? So, I am sure that there are a lot of people who are going through the same turmoil where they want to say something and they are being asked to shut up.”
The actor was one of the few Tollywood celebrities who protested during last year’s RG Kar case in Kolkata. “It is true, the threats do come and we lose out on work. The handful of people who really were there during the RG Kar incident, faced tremendous backlash. This actually happens in reality, fear of losing work… we are scared that it will affect our family, one’s safety is jeopardized. It is very big price to pay,” she concludes.
Durgapur Junction also stars Vikram Chatterjee and Ekavali Khanna. The film releases in theatres today.
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