Nishad Neelambaran (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 14, 2020)

For actor Jisshu Sengupta, the lockdown “has been both fun and difficult”. The Bengali superstar says the initial days were fun, but he soon started missing action on the sets. “Initially, since I didn’t get a break from work at all, I enjoyed eating and sleeping till late. But after a point I started missing the fun on the sets and the hustle,” he says.

Sengupta, who was a part of Bollywood movies such as Barfi (2012), Piku (2015) and Manikarnika (2019), will next be seen in Mahesh Bhatt’s Sadak 2. Speaking about the recent controversy around the film, he says, “We live in a world where there’s freedom of speech, everyone has an opinion and everyone is entitled to judge. I wonder, is it really fair to judge? Would we like to be judged? The pain is always felt most at the receiving end. And I hope some day these accusations turn into adulation and people see the film as a film.”

The 43-year-old actor, who feels “mental health should be a priority”, says he dealt with “depression, fears and being judged”. “I was called an unlucky actor for the longest time. No one put faith in me, and I had bills to pay and a family to run. Then (late filmmaker) Rituparno Ghosh happened and my life started to seem like it’s coming to track. I just began to find my feet when I lost him. I started drinking and shut myself away from the world.”

Asked about nepotism in the industry, he says, “Of course, there is nepotism, but it exists everywhere. If you’re an actor’s son/daughter/niece/nephew/grandchild, it will be easier to get into films, but only your talent will sustain that for you. There is favouritism and groupism, which needs to be tackled before nepotism.”