Barkha Bisht Sengupta

Barkha Bisht Sengupta is gung ho about Mahesh Manjrekar’s Ami Subhash Bolchhi, where she plays Mithun Chakraborty’s daughter and which releases next month. A t2 chat...

Ami Subhash Bolchhi is a Mithun Chakraborty film. Why did you choose such a film for your acting debut in Tollywood?

Well, that’s because it’s difficult to say no to a film that stars Mithunda. Also, I wanted to do another film with Shree Venkatesh Films after Dui Prithibi. Besides, not too many directors were willing to work with me as they thought I wouldn’t be able to speak Bangla. I also didn’t say no to this film because Mahesh Manjrekar was directing it. I am glad I did this film because it was huge sharing screen space with Mithunda. And I have a nice role.

But didn’t you want to get launched in a big commercial film as a heroine?

I actually wanted to do a full-fledged commercial film opposite Dev or maybe Jeet. I am a die-hard fan of commercial films and I would love to be a part of Bengali commercial films. But since I got the offer to do Ami Subhash Bolchhi, I thought let me do it. May be I will get noticed after this. Who knows?

What’s your role here?

I play Charulata Bose, Mithunda’s daughter. She is young and bubbly and wants to be a Hindi film actress. But she is rejected in all her auditions because people think she will speak Hindi with a Bengali accent. And because of the rejection, she wants to change her surname to a Kapoor or a Chopra. But her father finally convinces her that she should be proud to be a Bengali. Shaheb Bhattacharya plays my brother and Labonidi (Sarkar) plays my mother.

You must have identified with the character because you are facing similar problems here...

Yes, it’s true. That bit I totally identify with. I don’t get work in Calcutta because I am not a Bengali and though I have learnt Bangla a lot of people still have this perception about me that I cannot speak it well. That’s the reason why I insisted on dubbing for my role in Ami Subhash Bolchhi. I have to begin somewhere, isn’t it? Of course, I made a lot of mistakes but I managed. In fact, on the sets, whenever I would speak in Bangla Mithunda would say it was perfect... that really encouraged me.

Were you not intimidated by Mithun on the sets?

Not at all. He is a very good human being and instead of intimidating me he actually helped me get accustomed to Bengali culture. That was really sweet of him. He would sit with me and ask me to talk in Bangla. He would correct me all the time. I have learned so much just watching him act.

And Mahesh Manjrekar?

Oh, he is the most chilled out director! He would just let me be and let me do things my way…. Everybody on the sets was nice. Shaheb was actually like my younger brother, but he is really serious about work!

Is Indraneil (Sengupta, husband) still your Bengali teacher?

(Laughs.) Well, I am better than him now! Because I have this habit of asking questions 10 times before I get the accent correct, my Bangla is better than his. Even Indraneil thinks so!

You had accompanied Indraneil on the shoot of STAR Jalsha’s reality show 1000 Ghanta in the Andamans. How was it?

It was fun and after a long time we got to spend some time together. The shooting was on an island cut off from the rest of the town. There was no mobile either. I used to drop by the shooting spot with Indraneil. We chilled out and it was very relaxing for both of us.