Tell us about your background.
I come from a non-film background. I chanced upon this career almost by accident. I began with TV serials, unskilled and untrained. I learnt along the way as I worked in Tithir Atithi, Chenamukher Shaari, Bonhishikha and Nana Ronger Dinguli. I have done three Bangla telefilms for ETV under Anjan Dutt’s direction - John Johnny Janardan, Ek Din Darjeeling and Amar Baba.
And then films?
A role in my first film Raat Barotaa Panch, a thriller fell flat on its face. The second was a youth film Aamra directed by editor Moinak Bhowmick in which I play one of the four major characters, who is trying to come to terms with the choices she makes. Then came a black-and-white film produced-directed by Agnidev Chatterjee called Probhu Nashto Hoye Jaaye. It was an intense film, experimental, where my character has an affair with her best friend’s father.
How was it doing Dwando?
Sudipta, my character, in fact, is one of the best journeys in my career in films. Director Suman gave me the space and freedom to work in a completely relaxed environment free from tension or pressure. With him, it is easy to build an aesthetic symbiosis. Comfort levels with the cast and crew was very high. I was on tenterhooks when I learnt I would have to act with Soumitra Chatterjee though this was my second film with him. But he made me feel comfortable even before the camera began to roll.
What was the character like?
I play a married woman, who is in a relationship with another man. I had to work real hard to make my character look real and credible. Suman helped me every bit along the way. The same goes for Koushik Sen, who plays my husband, Samrat who plays my lover and Soumitra Chatterjee, the neurosurgeon with whom I have a long debate.
Aren’t you also doing a mainstream film Mama Bhagne with Prosenjit?
I do not draw lines between mainstream and off-mainstream. I feel the difference exists only in the mind. I did films that needed me to play characters of substance but Mama Bhagne is just the opposite. I am Prosenjit’s girlfriend. His tenacity and energy are infectious.
You are also doing Anjan Dutt’s Adim Ripu based on a Byomkesh Bakshi thriller, Atanu Ghosh’s Angshumaner Chhobi and Rituparno Ghosh’s Abohomaan.
I am very excited about all three films. Adim Ripu will present me as Shiuli, one of the major suspects in the story. It is a guest appearance but I did it because my association with Anjanda goes back to my years in television. I have an important role in Rituda’s Abohomaan. He would read out the scene before we went in front of the camera and then he gave us complete freedom. I was quite scared because I had never worked with him and hardly had any experience of the large screen scenario. In Anghsumaner ..., I play a strict police officer investigating the murder of a once-famous actress of Bengali cinema.
How do you foresee your future?
I don’t know. I was studying Microbiology and wanted to get into Genetics but found myself doing television. I have never planned anything. I have not made any portfolios till this day and I do not know if I will in the future. But yes, I would love to visualise myself working under directors like Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. I have a lot of respect for actors in Bollywood because the constant metamorphosis they go through is amazing.
