Pic by Rashbehari Das

Meeting director Dibakar Banerjee, who cast me in Love, Sex aur Dhokha (LSD), last year has been an important turning point of my life so far.

I’d already completed a three-month course from Actor Prepares, actor Anupam Kher’s acting school, and had moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in films. So when the role of Naina fell into my lap, I counted myself lucky. It was a complex role as Naina has a rustic side and at the same time wants to make it big in showbiz. But Banerjee is a great teacher, and since he also scripted LSD, he knew exactly what he wanted from me.

As the accolades for LSD started pouring in, I kept thinking about my father, sitarist Nikhil Banerjee, who passed away when I was a child. That was another major turning point in my life. Though I’ve always missed my father’s presence, his death taught me how to take responsibility for myself and my mother. Looking back I wonder if things would have been different if he was alive. Perhaps he would have guided me towards a career in music.

Now that my first film has been received well, I’m looking at several interesting scripts. Also, like Kanan Devi and Geeta Dutt, the singing stars of the yesteryears, I want to be a singing heroine. My degree in Hindustani classical music and training with Girija Devi should help me.

(As told to Nandini Guha)