Chinmoy Roy’s interview on Jahar Roy. Veteran comedian Chinmoy Roy gave an interview on his experience with legendary comedian Jahar Roy, in The Statesman, reported on 19th December, 2010. Priyanka Dasgupta had covered that interview. Chinmoy Roy said that he first met Jahar Roy while he worked in the famous Bengali play Ulka. Jahar Roy played the role of a Chinese steward in the play and did the role with perfection. Ulka stormed Bengal in the mid-50s. Based on the story the bollywood film Meri Surat Teri Ankhen was made. Jahar Roy was famous for his brilliant performance in award winning films like Satyajit Ray’s Gupi Gyne Bagha Byne, Haridas Bhattacharya’s Abhaya Srikanto, Rajlakshi Srikanto, Nirmal Dey’s Sare Chuattor, etc. Chinmoy Roy said that Jahar Roy was very kind hearted person. He said that while doing a film for director Mangal Chakravarty Chinmoy Roy was not paid. Jahar Roy paid him 100 rupees understanding his situation. Due to his charitable work, people remember his mess in College Street in Kolkata where he stayed for a long time. He worked in Patna for some time, that was the reason why Jahar Roy’s hindi intonation was also very good. Chinmoy Roy had highlighted another incident, when Jahar Roy was acting in stage his small son saw him crying and shouted that why father you were crying. When the audience got irritated and shouted at the child, Jahar Roy said that the child was a pigling and asked them to forgive him. Chinmoy Roy was astonished at the level of professionalism of Jahar Roy who was prepared to call himself a pig for the sake of the audience. Due to acute diabetes, Jahar Roy did not survive for long time. When Chinmoy Roy met Jahar Roy for the last time in Rajgir, he said “e Jahar se Jahar noy”, the words which mentioned the title of one of his hit films. The films and works of Jahar Roy should be preserved.
