Kamalinee Mukherjee

Not Prosenjit or Dev; the men in Kamalinee Mukherjee’s life are Kamal Haasan, Prabhudeva and Mammootty! The 20-something from Ritchie Road has become a sought-after actress in the Telugu film industry. With her Telugu film Kutty Srank set to open at Cannes 2009, Kamalinee tells t2 about life, south by south-east.

Who’s she?
School: Loreto House in Calcutta and Bishop’s Cotton in Bangalore
College: Loreto College, Calcutta
Claim to fame: Playing Shilpa Shetty’s younger sister in Revathy’s Phir Milenge
Major films: Anand, Gamyam, Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu, Kutty Srank
When in Calcutta she: Eats at Tangra, gobbles up phuchkas at Vivekananda Park and chills out at Someplace Else. “I plan to be home for the Pujas this year and spend time at Maddox Square.”

 

How did you get into the Telugu film industry?

Telugu filmmaker Shekhar Kammula spotted me in an ad, just like Revathy had. She too had seen me in an ad and cast me as Shilpa Shetty’s younger sister in Phir Milenge. Kammula is a national award-winning director, so I agreed to do his bilingual film Anand in Telugu and Hindi. The Hindi version never released, but the one in Telugu turned out to be a smash hit. Anand even got me the Nandi state award for the best leading actress in 2004. I played the protagonist Rupa in Anand. I never took the film seriously until I saw the accolades it brought me. Then more offers followed and I went on to do six Telugu films. Three of them were with Kammula.

You have done films in other languages too...

Yes, last year I did films in Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam apart from Telugu. So now I’ve got one toe in each language! But I have mainly stuck to Telugu.

With Kamal Haasan in Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu; (below) with Mammootty in Kutty Srank

You are romancing the likes of Kamal Haasan, Prabhudeva and Mammootty...

Yes, Kamal Haasan was in my first Tamil film Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu two years ago. I had played his wife and it gave me a different kind of exposure. I didn’t have a lengthy role but a song composed by Harris Jayaraj featuring Kamal Sir and me became a rage in the south. Then I did a musical with Prabhudeva called Style. Very recently, I did my first Malayalam film Kutty Srank (‘the boatman Kutty’) with veteran director Shaji N. Karun. I am paired opposite Mammootty in this film. Kutty Srank hasn’t released yet; it’s going to open at the Cannes film festival this year.

Telugu’s biggest 2008 hit was a film of mine called Gamyam. It did very well and they kept remaking it in every language because of which I ended up doing my first Kannada film Savaari. It was the only film from the south that ran for the Oscars last year.

What kind of roles do you get?

I think I’ve carved a niche for myself. In the five years that I’ve been working there, I’ve done about 10 films, which is not much. I am identified as a serious actress because the roles I’ve played have been very strong. My character maybe singing and dancing but she is shown as a strong, independent and progressive woman.

Has not knowing the languages been a problem?

I was a little apprehensive initially. The Malayalam period film Kutty Srank was the toughest. I had to work really hard because I needed a Portuguese accent and the director Shaji Karun is very particular about these things. But I’m a champ, so I studied like exam-time! As long as you understand what you’re saying, I think the expressions come spontaneously. It doesn’t really hamper your performance. There’s a girl who mostly dubs for me and she’s very good with my expressions. We’ve been working together for a while now.

Is Bollywood the next step?

I’m definitely looking forward to films in Hindi and Bengali but they have to be worth something. I would like my Hindi or Bengali film to have the kind of impact that Anand has had, which would establish me as an actress more than a typical heroine. Some interesting projects had come my way but either the role or the length of the role didn’t appeal to me. So I’ve kind of kept away. I’m not in the waiting game because I’m really happy with my films in the south.

Are there any offers in Bengali?

I’ve been dying to do a Bengali film. There have two misses with Bappaditya Bandopadhyay. Once, I was down with malaria and I didn’t have dates for his second project.... There are so many new directors in Calcutta now, but nobody knows that I even exist.

Where are you based now?

I live in Mumbai with my younger sister Mrinalinee, who’s a stylist. I spend around three months in Mumbai and for the rest of the time I’m all over south — Chennai, Bangalore and different places in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. But I keep coming back to Calcutta every two months. It’s my home.

What are your forthcoming films?

Right now, I have Gamyam releasing in Tamil and Kannada. It’s about how things change for a rich spoilt brat when he falls in love with a girl, who leaves him and goes away because he’ll never understand her. I’ve done a film called Gopi Gopika Godavari Teeram for the very prolific director Vamsi. Then, there’s Police Police in Telugu and Tamil with Prithviraj, who’s now shooting for Mani Ratnam’s Raavan in Calcutta.

Mohua Das
Do you want to see Kamalinee in Bengali films? Tell t2@abpmail.com