After her debut with Prabhat Roy’s Bhorer Alo, Anusmriti Sarkar is looking forward to a longer innings in Tollywood. A t2 chat...

Bhorer Alo is your first Bengali film. How has the experience been?

I have been appreciated for my work. It was a key film for my career. I got the opportunity to work with Prabhat Roy straightaway and had a double role. I had some really difficult emotional sequences to do. I think it was the emotional content of my character that helped me connect with the audience. I am on a high!

How was it working with Rituparna Sengupta?

Well, I have known Ritudi for a long time. I had met her in Mumbai and she was the one who recommended me for the role. I am indebted to her. We bonded really well on the sets and I am dying to work with her again.

Have you got any other Bengali film offer?

Yes. I am shooting for Sarbani Mitra’s Moner Majhe Tumi, which is in the last phase of production. In a couple of days, I will be off to Manali to shoot a song sequence. It is a love story opposite newcomer Joyjeet Mitra. Bappi Lahiri is doing the music. I have also signed an untitled Hindi film to be directed by Neeraj Pathak. It’s going to be a multi-starrer. Down south, I have the Telugu film Vankai Fry coming up for release.

So, where are you based?

I am based in Mumbai and am a Bengali by birth. So, I am naturally drawn to Hindi and Bengali films. I am reading some scripts in Bengali and hopefully I will get more opportunities to work in Bengali films now. Hindi films remain a major attraction though, because of its wider reach. At the moment, I am getting more offers from south. I do not follow Tamil or Telugu too well, so I am trying hard to learn the languages. The Telugu industry is very strict about punctuality. But no one can beat Calcutta’s warmth and friendliness.