After Antony Kobiyal, the worlds of theatre and cinema have come together once again in director Kamaleswar Mukherjee’s theatrical cinema Byapika Biday (as part of Jalsha Movies Originals). A The Telegraph chat with Ananya Sengupta, who plays Mini in Byapika Biday, which is streaming on Hotstar....

How is the feedback till now?

The feedback is excellent! People have not only watched it but thoroughly enjoyed the new format. Everybody’s performance has been appreciated.

What was your first reaction when you got to know that you will be doing a film in a new format?

I was super excited when I got to know about it. Stage is love! And when I came to know that we will be performing a theatre in front of camera I was really thrilled.

How was the process like in doing theatrical cinema? How did you prepare?

Being in a project of an icon like Kamaleswar Mukherjee, that too by Nideas (production house)... it was all about green pastures for me. The concept was fancy and novel for Bengali film and television. The original story and the film made in early 1980s are favourites of many of us and moreover it was given a smart and contemporary soul by Padmanabha Dasgupta in his new script. I went through it and assimilated the same first. Then started the journey.

Did you have rehearsals? How did you explore the two aspects — performing for camera and exploring the stage?

Since the format is theatrical we obviously had rehearsals. Kamaleswarda insisted from the beginning that we primarily perform this as a play. Camera will simply follow us to make the cinematic impression.

Tell us about your character?

My character Mini in Byapika Biday is unique. Inspite of being a daughter of an overemotional and upstart mother she is a very loving and warm person. The character is very simple in nature as well.

For you, what are the high points of the film?

Performing on stage is something very unique as compared to doing the same in front of camera. It’s live! And the excitement is different. It was rather a great opportunity for me to have the feel of both (theatre and cinema) at the same go. The cherry on the cake was the experience and learning while working with a big (production) house like Nideas, a great director and some fantastic co-actors. Moreover the pandemic has deprived theatre lovers of the stage for a long time. For them the project has brought an opportunity to enjoy theatre sitting at home. I wish this shows the path to many such projects in the coming days.