London Diaries

London is a city that haunts me with a zeal. It taught me a certain kind of freedom — the kind that comes from being responsible for and to yourself. The city and its atmosphere infused my personality with an unabashed freshness, unlocking parts of me I had never paid much attention to before, or perhaps even discovering their existence for the first time. As ridiculous as it may sound, I often feel like a forlorn lover, pining for and yearning for the next opportunity to set foot there. That particular year, London became a destination I frequented often, thanks to the various film projects that took me there. Yet, once filming wrapped, I would invariably steal away on my own for a while. Many of my dearest friends live in the UK, and before long, the city began to feel like a second home.

Incidentally, the last time I was in London was to shoot for Abar Hawa Bodol, which releases today in theatres. So, much like the film itself, my memories of making it are now sprinkled with glittering nostalgia. I say sprinkled rather than drenched because, despite being a sequel, this film is not driven entirely by nostalgia either. It inhabits the same world, and the characters remain the same — but are they, really? Where has life taken them? Thirteen years is a long time.

One such change is, of course, Kajallata’s entry into Rajarshi’s life. It is a completely new character, which I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to play. There are times when you have to convince yourself as an actor to play certain unsavoury parts of a character, and then there are other times you can aspire to be like them in certain specific ways. Kajallata, as a character, is incredible. I could be a tinge biased but I just really like her. She’s a total baddie.

Her special affinity is possibly her admirable ability to be brave enough to choose to be emotionally vulnerable while also simultaneously appearing as the most stable, calm influence. My favourite part about her, however, has to be the fact that she’s also just a tiny bit scary. She doesn’t look or act like someone who should be messed with. She always appears to have it all together on the outside at least and takes care of others even when she is falling apart, alone, on the inside. She is the youngest of the four and considerably so, yet she comes across as the most mature of them all in some moments. With Raj and Kajol, the age and personality are practically inversely proportional in nature which is both adorable and makes for some stellar comedic fodder. But on a serious note, she doesn’t just rock with Rajarshi on stage; she also ends up being the rock, and well, roll too in his life, if you know what I mean.

It’s a film whose philosophy, in my understanding of it, is the idea that throughout our lives we’re constantly coming of age in new and different ways. This feeling isn’t necessarily restricted to a certain age group. Interestingly enough, that year, for me, and the location, that is London, was key for my very own personal coming-of-age story. London is a city that I’ve come to learn can be a character in itself. It pushes those who are lost to lose themselves even more. That challenge, however, is thrown at them with such warmth that eventually they end up finding themselves in the best ways and this film mirrors that.

Shoots that happen out of station, or “outdoor” shoot schedules in colloquial film language, often ensure that the entire team of a film eats, stays and works together in the same place. It is almost like a professional retreat with your team. It is a circumstance which is bound to either create friction or bring the team closer. I have to gravitate towards the latter in the case of Abar Hawa Bodol, though I wouldn’t say the former was completely unfounded but that friction was majorly coloured by a sense of hilarity.

Rudrada (Rudranil Ghosh) has excellent comic timing and that as his co-actor, I found to be such a blessing behind the scenes. I remember tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard as a reaction to his narration of myriad unbelievable stories that he wouldn’t just tell; he would actually perform. As a result it was bound to make me feel at ease around him. He is, after all, such an accomplished senior actor and he’s such a treat to watch on screen. I remember, in the beginning, being a bit unsure about how to approach the relationship between these two characters, especially given the considerable age difference and opposing personalities. I was a bit nervous too, only because it meant so much to me.

The original Hawa Bodol is such an important part of my growing up. This was actually the bit that I couldn’t believe for the longest time. Never had I ever imagined that I, Anusha Viswanathan, would be a part of this fantastical world and interact with these iconic characters in real time when I was watching the original film in 2013. I know how that film affected me and so as an objective fan, I realise the weight of the responsibility I carry now that I’m part of this magical team. I have to give credit to my director and co-actor, Paramda. They (Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Rudranil) created an atmosphere where things just clicked naturally. There was no extra effort required for me to arrive at the unique equation, full of its idiosyncrasies, between Rajarshi and Kajallata.

The suburban area that the whole team stayed in had a quiet high street with its local shops and pubs. I’m a walker with Dora-like tendencies, so the very day I reached I simply couldn’t wait to go for a walk and explore. We had a day of rest after the long travel. I set out for a walk, and Rudrada, I think to an extent, felt responsible for me, so he ended up accompanying me. It was this walk, which in retrospect I feel really helped us or at least me, to further flesh out their equation and thank god for it, because our director had very sweetly scheduled most of my hardest, most pivotal scenes with wildly different emotional graphs on the very first day of shoot.

I also found out, in this walk, that Rudrada clicks amazing photographs and I have some of my favourite pictures of that time clicked by him on this journey. I must also specifically mention Raima Sen here, since we’re talking about my highlights of this time. She is an absolute sweetheart and together we really raised the roof post-pack-up or on off days. There is so much to learn from her in terms of how she behaves and treats everyone on set. The best thing for me on this set is that I had the opportunity to be a sponge. I was waiting to soak up whatever it is I could from all these actors I’ve looked up to growing up. Apart from the fact that Paramda constantly teased me about things. He is an actor’s dream as a director. He explained certain things to me about one’s performance and showed me some tricks and techniques which I will always carry with me.

I remember going to the Reading Music Festival right after this shoot was over. Imagine Dragons and Billie Eilish were headlining. That was a whole other experience which I remember sharing with t2 back in the day, but my reason for bringing this up is a confession. I kind of stole the vibe and look of Kajallata during this festival. The boots, the kohl-rimmed eyes, the nose ring and that sense of coolness that all rockstars possess in different degrees. Or perhaps, it was my way of bidding her goodbye for now. I must admit though, I do constantly steal from my characters if I find something worth absorbing from them, sometimes consciously and other times it just happens on its own.

The recent times have been tumultuous to say the least. It is the end of an era, for sure, but it is also the start of a new age, and Abar Hawa Bodol is a film all about it. It’s always an interesting experience to go through similar themes in one’s life, broadly speaking, while playing a character having a similar crisis or a film that deals with that phase of life. London is where I would honestly want to keep going back to if I personally needed some Hawa Bodol, not just abar, but bar bar. Everything in life can suddenly unravel and force you to begin again. Yes, it will hurt, but the resulting beauty could also end up putting your pain to shame.

If you could meet one character from Abar Hawa Bodol today, who would it be and why? Tell t2@abp.in