Tolly release Dilkhush is about relationships and finding true love in the digital age. Featuring an ensemble cast, the film stars Madhumita Sarcar and Soham Majumdar as the lead pair of young lovers, whose relationship trajectory follows unpredictable paths and forms the crux of the film’s narrative. The Telegraph caught up with the star duo and spoke to them about their characters, their chemistry, their ideas of love and much more.

Excerpts.

Introduce us to your character(s) in Dilkhush.

Soham: My character Rishi is a young man from an underprivileged background who has lost his parents. He works at two jobs that are completely different from each other, by night and day. He is a romantic at heart but afraid to fall in love as he fears the pain of separation. Yet, he hides his sorrow with a smile and faces life with optimism.

Madhumita: Dilkhush is a story about eight people, who are loners. At a subconscious level, they are in need of love. My character Puspita is one among them. The daughter of a rich businessman, she is detached from her family and prefers to share her thoughts with her pet cat. An introvert by nature, she has inhibitions about expressing her true emotions because she believes that no one could ever understand her feelings.

What was the most memorable part of your journey during the making of the film?

Soham: Actors are like gypsies, moving from one place to the other and staying in different surroundings as required by their work. One of the best parts of this particular journey was that I developed some genuine friendships. Also, I would like to add that in this film we could pay a small tribute to noted director Haranath Chakraborty, who had commended me on my performance in Drishtikone, my debut film.

Madhumita: What I loved most about the experience of shooting for Dilkhush is that in spite of a hectic schedule, everything was planned carefully and taken care of in a disciplined manner. However, there was one shot where we had planned to shoot outdoors in bright sunny weather, but it was raining that day and it turned quite foggy. So the entire mood and ambience of the shot changed and we had to improvise accordingly. Later, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the scene came out beautifully; it was as though the scene had been written with that weather in mind!

How was it like working with a director like Rahool Mukherjee?

Soham: We had been wanting to work with each other for a long time now and Dilkhush finally gave us the chance to do it. Our director had a very clear vision of my role in the film and what he wanted from my character. We did extensive workshops before shooting began so that I knew exactly what I was expected to do, what I would wear and so on. I am happy that despite a tight schedule Rahoolda gave me a lot of time to prepare for my character and clear any doubts. He also gave me the freedom to improvise and add interesting angles to my character.

Madhumita: Rahool Mukherjee is a wonderful director and he knows exactly what he wants from his artistes. Starting from look and characterisation to their inner selves, he gave us a clear idea of who he wanted his characters to be, so that we understood our roles perfectly and could do our job well. There was a great rapport between the actors and the director, which helped avoid any confusion during the job and made our performance so much better.

How did you react upon getting a romantic role like this and how did you prepare for it?

Soham: I feel that for an actor romance comes from honesty to their craft. Shah Rukh Khan is the king of romance but his commitment to his craft is legendary. We all know what a thorough professional he is and yet he is perhaps the best lover on screen. In my case, I just tried to let my natural warmth come across with Madhumita, who was extremely supportive. Working with her made it so simple that we easily sailed through the project. Being a die-hard Shah Rukh fan, it would have been a great injustice if I had not done a good job of it.

Madhumita: Whether it is a romantic role or not, firstly I try to build a strong foundation with the character I am going to portray. I tried to find common ground between my character and me from where I could take it further. I also looked for small details about the character which would help me become the character from within. And since this was a romantic role, I did workshops with Soham where we worked on the backstory of our characters, our life paths and why these two characters were growing close.

Tell us something about your chemistry as a romantic pair. What facets of each other’s personality did you discover while doing the film?

Soham: It is just amazing how Madhumita balances her crazy nature with her professionalism. She is very intelligent and deeply interested in all aspects of filmmaking. It was such a pleasure to work with her and get to know about the unknown facets of her personality like her interest in physics and her ability to easily solve the Rubik’s Cube! And as for our chemistry, that is for the audience to decide. The response so far has been excellent but I am eagerly waiting for some positive feedback from the audience as I hope to do more films with her again.

Madhumita: For each story, the chemistry between a romantic pair needs to be different, depending upon the nature of the characters and their relationships. For instance, in Kuler Achaar, I played a newly married woman, so my chemistry with my husband would be different from what it would be in this film. In Dilkhush, I was fortunate to get a lot of time to prepare with Soham, and we discussed our roles in detail and shared ideas about our characters with each other. Like me, he too likes to be wellprepared for the role and luckily we were on the same page on most important matters and that reflected in our performance as well. Last but not least, though Soham has worked on a national platform with big Bollywood stars, he is very grounded. He was always friendly and made me feel so comfortable that I never hesitated and could freely discuss anything with him about doing a romantic scene.

Madhumita Sarcar (left) & Soham Majumdar

Are you in favour of modernday AI-based dating concepts? Or do you prefer traditional ways of meeting your partner?

Soham: As of now, I have never used any dating app or even a social media app to help my love life. But I know of people who have found their life partners through such apps, and who are we to judge them? Having said that, I feel that AI as a concept entails a certain breach of privacy but if someone can use its algorithms to actually find a partner then so be it. As for me, I will consider it only when I am 40 and still lonely, not before that!

Madhumita: For me, I have to know the man personally and have met him before I can think of getting into a relationship with him. So such dating apps are certainly not for me. I definitely prefer the old-fashioned way of falling in love. At the same time, I am sure there can be other interesting aspects to modern dating concepts, which can be explained by those who have found love through this means.

Pictures: Rashbehari Das