Gopal Datt, a National School of Drama alumnus, began his artistic journey on stage in 1999 and was greatly influenced by the brilliance of theatre icon BV Karanth. The actor then got a break on the big screen and went on to star in films like ‘Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai’, ‘Tere Naam’, ‘Samrat & Co.’ and ‘Filmistaan’. Today, he is recognized as a versatile artist and recently reconnected with theatre, his first love, and featured in the Seema Pahwa directorial, ‘Koi Baat Chale.’ This evocative literary anthology produced by Zee Theatre showcases six stories by iconic writers, and Gopal narrates Harishankar Parsai’s classic story ‘Ek Film Katha’. Datt is delighted that the anthology has now been translated into Kannada and Telugu and believes ‘Ek Film Katha’ will resonate with a diverse audience because it satirises populist cinema that churns out plot after plot with a gallant hero, a heroine in distress, and a clichéd villain. He firmly believes that the audiences in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka will connect with ‘Ek Film Katha’. He says, “We know there is a trend to remake Bollywood films into South Indian languages and vice versa. Overall, Indian cinema is the same everywhere. Many typical masala films have been remade in regional languages without many changes in the basic plot. It’s the same everywhere. So, they’ll 100 percent relate to it.” The story, he says, conjures up a funny Hindi film of the 1960s or 70s and adds, “Even after years, we may not find many changes in formulaic Bollywood films. So, when you read ‘Ek Film Katha,’ it unfolds like a review of a recent masala movie. It is incredible that a story that Parsai penned in the seventies and eighties appears to have been written about today’s cinema. He is telling the truth, while making the readers laugh, even at themselves. This is his great strength and makes this story timelessly relevant even today.” In his opinion, the younger generation of filmmakers should maintain a connection with the works of eminent writers like Harishankar Parsai. “What’s lacking in our cinema right now is a connection to literature. Old films still had that connection but now it is lost. The younger generation has no idea about the great writers in Indian literature. It is very important to find that missing link, that missing connection. And ‘Koi Baat Chale’ is a very good effort to revisit the stories of great writers like Saadat Hasan Manto, Munshi Premchand, and Parsai. Reading them will help people to rediscover India’s countless literary treasures,” he concludes. The teleplay can be watched on 11th February on Dish TV Rangmanch Active, D2H Rangmanch Active, and Airtel Spotlight.
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