beleghata girl awaits bolly debut

Calcutta girl Sayani Gupta and TV actor Vishal Nayak (of STAR Plus’s Sapnon Se Bharey Naina fame) are on a mission. The duo are hell-bent on getting their single parents married for the second time....

Wait! We are talking about Second Marriage Dot Com, (releases today), directed by Gaurav Panjwani, where Sayani plays Poonam and Vishal plays Akshay. “My character lives with her single mother (Charu Rohtagi) and Vishal with his widower father (Mohit Chauhan). Both of us get our respective parents to tie the knot and we legally become siblings. But trouble starts when we fall in love! How the family reacts to this is what the film is about,” said Sayani. The Beleghata girl moved to Delhi before taking up an acting course at FTII Pune.

“I had briefly worked with Nandikar here and in Delhi I worked with the late Habib Tanvir and M.K. Raina. Initially I only wanted to do theatre but then I discovered my love for films.... Gandu maker Q offered me Taasher Desh, produced by Anurag Kashyap, where I play a queen,” said Sayani, who is currently shooting for Dilli Se Door, a travelogue with Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah and Aziz Mirza.

Sayani says it has been a pretty smooth sail for her in Bollywood. “It’s strange that I didn’t have to do anything to get into films. I did a short student film in FTII and my friend uploaded it on Facebook, Gaurav saw me and offered me the role! I know Second Marriage is a low-budget film but let’s hope that I get noticed and people like the film because it has an unusual subject,” she added.

What about her future plans? “I really want to stay in Calcutta and work here. I hope something comes up soon!” signed off Sayani.

Arpita’s date with Sachin

Shy, introvert and very professional” — that’s how Arpita describes Sachin Tendulkar. The Tolly actress shot for a national ad film, directed by Parineeta maker Pradeep Sarkar, with the master blaster in Mumbai’s Kamalistan Studio last Sunday.

“When those shooting in Kamalistan heard that Sachin was shooting in one of the studio floors, people rushed in to catch a glimpse of him! I was surprised, of course... on the field he is the king and I have seen how people get so excited when he is on the field,” smiled Arpita, who met Sachin up close for the first time.

She was in for more surprise when shooting with him. “He is a champion on the field and he is one in front of the camera too. I mean, this isn’t his forte but how easily he got into his character! Even after being an actor for so long, I am still panicky about my lines. I rehearse and continuously ask for my dialogues from the assistant directors, but Sachin was so relaxed and calm on the sets and he knew all his lines perfectly. Not once did he look nervous, neither did he fumble.... We spoke during the break,” gushed Arpita, happy to have worked in yet another ad film with Sarkar. “I enjoy doing ad films and Dada (Sarkar) is like family. I am pampered on his sets... I am more like his daughter than an actress.”

Kushali Nag