Kolkata vexations travel to Toronto

Samrat Chakrabarti who plays Krishna in The Waiting City is centre stage at the Toronto International Film Festival

On September 17, at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival, Samrat Chakrabarti will walk the red carpet for the gala premiere of ‘The Waiting City’. A charming and multi-faceted actor, in the movie, Samrat portrays the character of Krishna, a hotel-worker who befriends an Australian couple who have traveled to Kolkata to collect their adopted baby.

As part of this latest offering by Australian director Claire Mc Carthy, starring Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton and Isabel Lucas, Samrat said, “I am proud of my work in the movie, and look forward to the premiere show.” ‘The Waiting City’ will have its world premiere screening at the Special Presentations line-up.

The Toronto International Film Festivalis arguably the world's biggest public film festival which drew more than 300,000 film-goers to the theatres last year, apart from 300 critics, and filmmakers from Hollywood and more than 50 other countries.

“Kolkata as a city in West Bengal, India is chaotic and crowded. Set against this exhilarating, epic background, it was impossible not to be affected by the place. As characters of ‘The Waiting City’, we were transformed by the people of the city and their powerful milieu,” confirms Samrat, who parenthetically has strong Bengal descent.

Born in London to immigrant parents from India, Samrat grew up in Boston. His métier as an actor began early, with his first big success as Ahmad in Spike Lee’s ‘She Hate Me’ with Jonh Turturro. This was followed by a string of projects which established him as a notable actor of South Asian Indian heritage.

- Samrat is best known for his role as Amir in Amyn Kaderali’s ‘Kissing Cousins’
- He has acted in diverse movies depicting the Indian experience in the American Diaspora such as Manish Acharya’s ‘Loins of Punjab Presents’ with Shabana Azmi where he plays Trance Sen
- In Sarba Das’s ‘Karma Calling’ which was screened at the Asian American International Film Festival in New York, Samrat played the role of a charming call centre employee in India – Rohit Rao – alias Rob Roy when calling Americans, who dreams of visiting New York.

- His international cinematic roles include ‘Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace’ with Molly Shannon and as Rakesh in The Bong Connection with Victor Banerjee.
- Samrat has also done cameo in Yash Raj and Kabir Khan’s ‘New York’ with Bollywood stars John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh.

Samrat is a Masters of Fine Arts for Advanced Theatre Training from Harvard University and has Honors Degree in Theatre from Brandeis University. He has made girriuest appearances on Television in Law & Order, Sopranos and Love Monkey to list a few. Samrat has also been active in stagecraft. His theatre credits include

- Nirad Das in Tom Stoppard ‘Indian Ink’ at The Missouri Repertory Theatre
- Arun in Saman Shad's ‘Lingering Voices’ at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival
- Desipina 7-11 Convenience Theatre in NYC

A multi-faceted artist, Samrat derives inspiration his from motion art, coupling music with theater. Working in various film industries, international cinema, television and theatre, Samrat's career spanning over 15 years, also has to his credit various national awards for his arrangements and compositions including a US Cara for best original pop/rock song, for his composition, ‘What's It all About’. He is a former member of the a capella group Five O' Clock Shadow. He was also a part of the group The Hyannis Sound. In 1998, he was in the group JYDE, which contained an original song ‘Starving’, written and arranged by Samrat. Most recently, he wrote, composed, performed, and produced the theme song, ‘Dhol Beat’, for the Indian hit film, ‘Loins of Punjab Presents’. He has produced and performed with various international acts (from Boston to Bollywood) and continues to do so.

Clipping of movie

Screening Schedule
- Thursday September 17 6:00PM Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
- Friday September 18 1:45PM Scotiabank Theatre 1
- Saturday September 19 6:15PM Varsity 8