August 25, 4pm. Cars zipping along the Lake Gardens flyover slow down towards the middle. A film shoot is in progress, and a familiar face is spotted. Koel Mallick. Some roll down the windows and call out her name. In between takes, Koel waves back, flashing a smile.
The cast and crew are back the next day, shooting well into the night. Fans pop up and approach Koel for autographs. Director Abhimanyu Mukherjee tells her that the next shot is ready, and it involves a bed on the flyover! t2 chatted with Koel in between shots of the yet-to-be-titled thriller starring her, Gaurav Chakrabarty and TV actor Ravi Shaw.
You play a journalist in the film...
Yes, Bidisha. She is writing an article and the film’s plot involves a few accidents that are happening [“Bidisha’s article is on traffic rule violations on flyovers,” says Abhimanyu]. She gets drawn into an investigation.... Thrillers excite me as an actor and I have always wanted to be a part of one. I have done films like Hit-List but never this kind of an edge-of-the-seat thriller. My character is very determined, brave, headstrong. People try to hush her up so that she doesn’t write the article but she goes against all odds to do it.
Tell us about your look in the film...
I have five costumes in this film… three saris and two kurtas. For commercial films, I have done 80 changes (laughs).
How many hours did you spend on the Lake Gardens flyover?
We shot there for three days. And what an experience it was! I saw people stopping to watch us shoot. I had to also ride a scooter and then take a U-turn. They wanted a lot of hustle and bustle, a lot of cars, a lot of congestion. I had to drive, walk, scream for a scene. At one point of time, I just had to switch off.
What was the most challenging part of shooting on a flyover?
The flyover has a very important role in the film. From Day One, I had been asking everyone on which flyover we were shooting. There were so many scenes, and I had thought that we would be shooting on a flyover where things would be under our control. I was not expecting a busy flyover. And all of them were intense scenes. We are used to working in a controlled environment, but on that flyover it wasn’t the case. We had to be on our feet and be completely alert. I just conditioned myself to not be frazzled and focused on my scenes.
There is a dream sequence that was filmed in the middle of the night. You have a scene on a bed on the flyover…
That was an interesting thing. My lamp shade is there beside my bed. There were vehicles passing by... and imagine what the people were thinking… they were going past a bed on a bridge! It’s a very surreal and choreographed scene. It begins by showing that I am exhausted… I am working on a story, and then I doze off. And then I wake up suddenly, at the honk of a car, and find myself on the same flyover I am doing a story on! We shot through the night till 5am.
What kind of recurring dreams do you have?
I have had nightmares of not being able to finish my exam papers on time. Everyone is concentrating on their papers whereas I am not being able to write! But I never had a dream where I am transported to a particular place, which my character experiences in the film.
Who are the men in the film?
Gaurav (Chakrabarty), who plays a police officer, is the one person who helps my character. And he is there with her till the end of it. They did not know each other initially, but she knows she can count on him. Ravi Shaw plays a journalist; we work together... his character is very shy and introvert. He has a soft corner for Bidisha. She takes his help for her article. They have feelings for each other, but not the usual mushy kind. It’s like they know they’ll be there for each other. At times, though he wants to help her, she cannot open up. However upfront she maybe, she is not one of those who can share her feelings with her partner. She gets withdrawn. They have a cute romantic story.
What is the one question you’d like to ask Koel? Tell t2@abp.in
