She plays Kali, an ugly duckling, in her Bollywood debut Guddu Ki Gun opposite Kunal Kemmu. But she isn’t complaining. “I have played many glamorous characters in Bengali films... Guddu Ki Gun was a unique experience,” Payel Sarkar tells t2. 

Guddu Ki Gun is about a young man’s you-know-what suddenly turning into gold! That’s quite a bizarre plot. How did you react when you first read the script?

Directors Sheershak Anand and Shantanu Ray Chhibber made me read the entire script and after reading it I was like, ‘Oh my god, no! A guy with a golden d**k!’ I don’t have a problem with edgy, wacky subjects. Guddu Ki Gun is a sex comedy but it’s never sleazy or vulgar. The story flows in an entertaining way. People will laugh a lot... I’m sure you too must have enjoyed and laughed, though a few jokes were very direct. 

What was your first reaction when you looked in the mirror and saw Kali? Were you okay with the dark circles and pimple marks?

Well, it’s a good thing that everybody is talking about my look! There will be many more films where I will look beautiful and glamorous, right? Kali in Guddu Ki Gun is a very positive girl and that’s why Guddu (Kunal Kemmu) falls for her in the end. I was very convinced about Kali and I have tried to make her believable. I actually loved Kali.
Of course, after make-up on the first day I was a little taken aback with the pimple marks, but slowly I discovered Kali and realised how beautiful she is from within, she is very lovable and innocent. That’s why people are talking about Kali despite Guddu Ki Gun being a Kunal Kemmu film. How I look in a film isn’t everything. People will notice you for your performance; looks are important in our profession but after a body of work what stands out is your performance. If people in Bombay want to know how I look in real life they will find out…

And you’ve already done a couple of Hindi serials…

Yes, I have done two mega serials for Sony — Waqt and Ladies Special and Love Story for SAB TV. 

Is that why your Hindi is so good in Guddu Ki Gun?

There’s this notion in Bombay that Bengali girls can’t speak Hindi. That’s so wrong because most of our actresses are fluent in Hindi nowadays.  

How was it working with Kunal Kemmu?

A lot of fun. He is a nice guy, very involved with all the other departments of filmmaking. Guddu Ki Gun is his film and he played the character with such panache. I loved him in the film, he is so convincing as Guddu. And he is a foodie. He would gorge on all kinds of Bengali sweets. For lunch I saw him eating rice and machher jhol. We used to talk a lot about Tollywood, I showed him clippings from my film Chotuskone which he really liked. Bollywood is now very interested in our films.... I was very comfortable because we shot all over Calcutta. Soha (Ali Khan, Kunal’s wife) also dropped in on the sets to celebrate Kunal’s birthday and we partied till late one night. She is a lovely girl. 

Both Bolly and Tolly typecast actors easily. What if you get another offer to play a Plain Jane in a Bolly film?

Good question but difficult to answer! See, I will have to be very careful. I don’t mind playing the de-glam girl-next-door again but it has to be diagonally opposite to Kali. 

4 bizarre scenes in Guddu Ki Gun 

1. When Guddu’s you-know-what turns gold, a cleavage-baring nurse examines him and says she can sell his private parts and become rich!

2. Guddu, a detergent powder salesman, ends up making out with numerous boudis. But when he becomes the man with the golden gun, he starts believing that he’s been cursed by one of the women. He meets the grandfather (Biplab Chatterjee) of a girl he had dated and ditched once. The grandfather, a Kali bhakt, tells Guddu that he had cursed him. Guddu’s reply? ‘Aapne meri man power ko golden tower bana diya’! 

3. Shantilal Mukhopadhyay plays Antique Moshai, a Bengali businessman who has a pretty wife with whom Guddu has done quite a bit of target practice. When he learns about his wife’s extracurricular activities, he gets Guddu’s gun chopped off by a doctor and sells it to a Frenchman! 

4. Payel’s Kali tells Guddu that she knows why he is after her: ‘Aapka woh soney ka ho gaya na?’ 

Kushali Nag
Does Payel have what it takes to succeed in Bollywood? Tell t2@abp.in