Toronto gives Rahul Bose unique birthday gift

Rahul Bose is elated. He will be in Toronto, his favourite city, next week when it holds a retrospective of his films during the Toronto International Film Festival, coinciding happily with his birthday.

The actor calls it a perfect birthday gift.

"I'll never forget Toronto. My directorial debut 'Everybody Says I'm Fine' was screened there a day after 9/11. I thought no one would come. But the screening was crammed full. The retrospective is such a wonderful way to reach 40," Rahul told IANS.

The retrospective is called Masala Mehndi Masti.

"And guess what? It starts on July 27. They don't know that it's my birthday and that they're unknowingly giving me a present."

Rahul is seen as the representative of urban Indian culture.

"I'm disproportionately flattered. They said they chose me for a retrospective because I'm a representative of urban Indian culture. They said they found my movies representative of modern urban India.

"Whether it's the socially important 'Mr & Mrs Iyer', my first big commercial foray 'Takshak', the wry semi-urban fable 'English August', a witty entertainer like 'Pyar Ke Side Effects' or 'Split Wide Open' which pre-empts the water scarcity... they are all modern fables."

Getting excited, Rahul said: "And guess what? Buddhadeb Dasgupta's unreleased 'Kaal Purush', which represents the (Satayjit) Ray brand of cinema, is also part of the package."

Rahul will also conduct a seminar on cinema during the festival.

"While I hate to theorise about acting, I'll be propounding this whole theory that acting doesn't have to be a serious business. It can be fun while being serious. I'll be talking about the sheer joy of creating the character."

Another activity that Rahul looks forward to at the Masala Mehndi Masti festival is a freewheeling discussion with Cameron Bailey, who's one of the programmers of the Toronto Festival.

"We'll talk about my work in the discussion."

Rahul earlier had a retrospective of five films in Geneva in 2003.

"It was a mini-retro. Again it was held at a very cosmopolitan city.

"I think they're putting a lid on my career. By 49 they want me to kick the bucket. Incidentally, I'm going back to Toronto in September with Santosh Sivan's 'Before The Rains'. Now you know why I love this city."

Indo-Asian News Service