Victor Banerjee and I go back a long way. He is the only actor I happily allow to bribe me: each year during winter he sends me the best sandesh available in Kolkata.
“Nothing should happen to you. If you are gone, who will send me my yearly sandesh?” I joke when Victor returns my call about his health.
“I got a minor stroke.When I got your message I was being discharged. Now I am back home in Mussoorie. It was a very minor stroke. I am walking talking breathing. Not jumping but that’s it.So your sandesh is safe,” Victor quips when we catch up.
Victor was hospitalized for six days. “This was my first time in the hospital. And I hope it is the last time. I put out a message in Hindi in the papers in Bengal. It said, ‘I was on the way up. But because of bad weather in Mussoorie my ticket was cancelled.’
Satyajit Ray, David Lean, and the other maestros Victor has worked with would just have to wait up there.
I ask him what what would make him feel better. “Your call is good enough. Your prayers are most important.Now I’ve to rest. My doctors have told me I won’t be on my feet for at least a month.My wife looked after me while I was hospital absolutely like an angel. I am hoping I would get to catch up on my reading, though I am not as well-read as people think.My erudite image is all an act. I’ve put on an act for so many years and people fell for it.”