Rituparna Sengupta at her Lake Gardens home. Picture: Pabitra Das

You had apparently requested the producers of Biye Not Out to push back the film’s release, but it is releasing with Taaan on Friday...

Yes, I feel disgusted. I like promoting my films because I work so hard in each and every film I do. But the producers of Biye Not Out have all of a sudden decided to release the film. My other film Taaan is also releasing on the same day (February 21). Obviously one will be killed because of the other. There should at least be a gap of three weeks. See, I don’t mind my films releasing with other people’s films. But two films of Rituparna Sengupta releasing on the same day is bad! Besides, Biye Not Out is a romcom, while Taaan has a rural subject. It’s not possible for me to promote two films together. I had requested Gautam Kundu (producer) to hold the release of Biye Not Out.

But a few months ago, your films Khancha and Villain also released on the same day?

Yes, and despite Khancha (directed by Raja Sen) being such a different film, it didn’t do too well. Villain did well in the suburbs. I love to promote my films passionately and releasing two films at the same time makes the actress suffer.

You play a ‘water prostitute’ in Taaan...

I found the idea fantastic. When Mukul Roy Chowdhury (director) narrated the story of Taaan to me I was in shock! I never knew that something like this even existed. I have played a sex worker in a lot of films. While doing Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Mondo Meyer Upakhyan, I had done a lot of research on the sex workers of various red light areas of Calcutta and its outskirts. In Taaan I play Sundari, a sex worker who has spent all her life on a boat. She meets and entertains her customers on the boat. She is controlled by a water pirate, played by Rajesh Sharma. But a photographer (Sumanto Chattopadhyay) falls in love with Sundari and what happens thereafter is what Taaan is all about. We actually lived in boats while shooting for the film. It was one helluva experience!

It sounds similar to what you had played in Bedeni in 2011...

The similarities are that both are rural characters. In Bedeni I had played a snake charmer. In Taaan, too, Sundari is a snake charmer but she is also into the flesh trade. I come from a very urban background and playing rural, rustic characters gives me a kick. I get to challenge myself and transform completely as far as make-up and costumes are concerned. Besides, I feel directors like offering me rural characters because I excel in them. In Taaan the dialect was very challenging too.

What did you find interesting about Biye Not Out?

There I am a very urban, corporate woman. Tota (Roy Chowdhury) plays my husband. They are a very happy couple but Tota’s character is obsessed with wildlife. He only likes to vacation in the jungles while she wants to explore other places. So there’s a clash between them. But since it’s directed by Sudeshna Roy-Abhijit Guha, the treatment is funny.

Nowadays you and Tota team up often. He had also cast you in his directorial debut Villain. What do you like about working with each other?

Tota and I go back a long way and we are very comfortable working with each other. We are family friends. We intend to do more films together in future. Not that we are consciously trying to become a pair, but if people start liking us all over again then that’s fine. While doing Biye Not Out I discovered a whole new side of Tota, that he is very good in comedy.

Also, you work with a lot of newcomers, like Sumanto in Taaan...

I like working with newcomers because they bring a lot to the table. There’s a vulnerability in them and an earnestness which pushes the entire team to work hard. Besides, how else will newcomers get a chance if we don’t work with them?