Sahana in Lovesongs

Wilful, headstrong and rebellious. Shahana Chatterjee is everything her screen mom Jaya Bachchan is not in Lovesongs — Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow. The English film directed by Jayabrato Chatterjee (which is also Jaya Bachchan’s first in the Queen’s language) has pitted them against each other, testing the young woman’s acting skills against the veteran’s.

“Our first scene together was a heated argument. When the shot got over, Jaya Bachchan said that in our next film together we should be friends and not at loggerheads,” smiles Shahana, waiting for her father Jayabrato’s film to release on March 28. Lovesongs also stars Om Puri and Mallika Sarabhai.

“She (Jaya) didn’t give me any acting tips, but she did have her suggestions, which helped us immensely to better the script,” adds the 29-year-old.

Turning into Jaya Bachchan’s singer daughter Palash was a cakewalk for Shahana, who has been “eating, sleeping and dreaming” the character ever since her father wrote the script.

“I’ve been so involved with Palash that I really didn’t have much homework to do. I didn’t identify with Palash at all but I could understand her psychology. She leaves home, takes up the job of a crooner at a nightclub, wears weird wigs, marries a half-Bong-half-Anglo Indian (Neil Bhupalam) and shares a complex relationship with her mother. She is a child woman, very immature,” says Shahana. “I have worked hard on my look in the film. Palash looks like a simple girl but there are times when she wears shimmering dresses and sings Just for tonight at the club.”

Shahana graduated in English from Jadavpur University before doing her Masters in theatre and development in the UK. She did dabble in theatre before her big screen debut. “I had gone to Ahmedabad for a year to train under Mallika Sarabhai. I think hers is the most challenging role, that of a weak alcoholic women, while she is just the opposite. I’ve known her since childhood.... I have also done theatre with Chupkatha under Asit Mukhopadhyay’s direction,” she adds.

Lovesongs will be screened at MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Images) on Wednesday.