When newly married Shaon faces pressure from the family to deliver a “Kartik thakur” even before romance with husband Antar has bloomed, she has only her best friend Parijat to confide in. The hip, care-free and talkative Parijat, a scriptwriter for TV serials in Projapoti Biskut, is none other than Kheya Chattopadhyay.

The regular face in Digantika Abasan’s cultural programmes is now a sparkling presence in movie halls in the Anindya Chatterjee-directed romantic comedy.

“Everyone in our complex is so happy to see me on screen. I have many nicknames here since childhood — Laddu, Khauburi… All the mashimas and pishimas still call me by those names. Cinemata dekhe sobai amay khub ador korechhey,” she beams.

The younger daughter of Amity University vice-chancellor Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay debuted on stage as Subhadra, the little boy in Achalayatan. “My para friends started calling me Abhadra after that. I was in Class II and used to get only boy’s roles then.”

In school, too, (where she went by her bhalo naam Sohini) the Calcutta Girls’ High School student was regularly into plays and mimes. “Sometimes I bunked classes,” she admits. Around the time when she enrolled in St. Xavier’s College for a multimedia degree, she also got involved in the theatre group Lok. “I was into photography and videography on my own and in the theatre group I was doing the lights.”

The turning point was when the group went on a nationwide tour in December 2011 and none of the female actors agreed to come along. “So they asked me to play the women characters. We toured Mumbai, Delhi, Goa, Bangalore…” She also did a lot of street theatre.

Her first big break, Kheya says, was playing Anjan Dutt’s daughter Virginia in his production of Galileo in 2012. “Quite a few people asked me then if I was interested in acting.”

She met the director of Projapoti Biskut, Anindya Chatterjee, while working on Tram Tales for which the Gariahat tram depot was converted into a live installation. “Everyday we were having performances there. Chandrabindoo (of which Anindya is a lead vocalist and composer) could not be a part of Tram Tales because of time constraints but we became friends on social media. We met again at an event at a restaurant and he wanted me to meet him later.”

By then, Kheya had done a Masters in fine arts and performance arts from Cambridge University, a two-month stint at the State University of New York on scholarship as also some TV commercials and bit roles in films. “I thought it was for some  small job when he said that he was planning a film.”

But even after the film’s success, Kheya would not describe herself as an actress. “I am an interdisciplinary artist,” said the 26-year-old who is now busy helping Modern High School students put up a play.

P.S: This Kali puja at Digantika, if you recognise the bearded man walking next to her as the lead of Projapoti Biskut, Aditya Sengupta, do not take it to be a friendship made on the film’s sets. “We are together as a couple for six years,” she smiles.