What will Satarupa Pyne be doing on August 6? Park herself in front of PVR Cinemas in Mumbai and see the Calendar Girls banner go up. The Barasat girl makes her Bolly debut in the Madhur Bhandarkar film slated to release on August 7. “Life will change and hopefully get a lot more busy,” Satarupa tells t2.  

Counting down to the release of Calendar Girls, how are you feeling?

Very, very excited. People calling up and congratulating… people who have watched the film already, people who are editing it… the production team calling and saying, ‘You are looking damn nice’. The other day, we saw the two amazing songs that we shot in Mauritius. When I was watching, that feeling of screaming for yourself when you see yourself on the screen gave me goosebumps. Madness! (Laughs) I was emotional. Such good memories in my first film… I was crying. 

Your parents must be excited too...

It’s a very big deal for them. They were not expecting that life would change this drastically. ‘How could you crack this film in just one-and-a-half years?’ is what they have been asking me. I told them I am too smart. Always been! 

You play a Bengali model…

I am a girl from Bengal, Paroma Ghosh. She comes from a middle-class family and has to convince her parents about going to Mumbai for this big calendar shoot that happens every year. Paroma makes it big as a model but lands up in trouble when she gets embroiled in a cricket controversy. Keith Sequeira is paired opposite me. Playing Paroma was a lot of fun. Several names came to my mind as to whom I could be playing. I guess it’s a real-life character!

What was your first reaction when you got to know you were on board?

I vividly remember the day I met Madhur Bhandarkar for the first time in his office. He was noticing everything… from the way I walked to the way I sat and conducted myself. There was a glimmer of hope that I may get lucky because he generally doesn’t interview anyone for more than 10 minutes. I was talking for quite a while. He later told me that he wanted to see how I spoke. He said the moment I walked in he knew I would be playing Paroma Ghosh… he was sure 80 per cent that he was going to cast me. 

And why were you just right to play Paroma Ghosh?

He needed someone with a certain character on her face… whose eyes speak, earthy and raw. Certain things worked in my favour.  

Did you have to pay more attention to your body since you play a bikini model?  

I have always been careful of how I looked. That’s another reason why I bagged the film. As a bikini model, I was perfect. You cannot be too skinny either. I wanted to look curvy. I usually run and because I could not run in Mauritius and was on a different workout programme, I had started putting on weight. I was also becoming a little careless with my diet. In the run-up to the shoot with the tigers, I ate less… surviving on vegetables, boiled food… basa fillets.

Weren’t you nervous that four other girls will also be vying for attention in the film? 

I really wanted to work with Madhur Bhandarkar. He is on my list of favourite directors. I did not want to miss this opportunity. You never know if he will make a film with newcomers again. Being a model, it was easy for me to play this role too. You have to carry yourself confidently in a bikini, which I have done before. When I got to know about this film, I did not waste time. I was there and I got lucky. I was the first one to be signed. That was a huge confidence-booster. This was like lead heroine treatment. Paroma Ghosh is a very important character. Among the five girls, if I were to choose a role to play, it would be Paroma Ghosh. 

What was it like being directed by Madhur Bhandarkar? 

He literally spoils you. He gives you so much space. Even to a newcomer, he will hardly say, ‘Act like Tabu or act like Kareena (Kapoor)’. You do what you like. In case he needs to alter something, he will come and tell you, ‘Yeh thoda aise kar de.’ Later on if I get to work with a tough director, I will be in trouble. We did workshops and there was no script to mug up. The first time I heard the word ‘action’, I burst into tears. And, it was a scene where I actually had to cry. (Laughs)

Did acting come naturally to you?  

Nothing came naturally to me. I had to try hard. I took a couple of days to get used to it all and then confidence kicked in. Shooting in a bikini is never easy for any model. I had to shoot in a bikini in a jungle in Mauritius with two white tigers! That was the most difficult shot for me. Every moment I felt I was going to die. Apart from me, only the cinematographer was allowed to shoot with the tigers… not even Madhur Bhandarkar was allowed. I was balancing myself on a branch wearing stilettos! Below me were the tigers! 

My message for Satarupa is.... Tell t2@abp.in