Actress Rituparna Sengupta shares how content-driven cinema is making a mark

Over three decades of being in the film industry, actress-dancer Rituparna Sengupta is now enjoying the wave of content-driven cinema. Recipient of the National Film Award for Best Actress for the film Dahan, she is keeping busy between shoots, film festivals, preparing for a musical and the release of her film Puratawn.

The film marks the return of veteran actress Sharmila Tagore to Bengali cinema after 14 years. A mother-daughter story, the film is significant for Rituparnma. “Working with Sharmila Tagore was special. Even at 80, she has the curiosity of a child. She is so particular about her costumes, dialogues and every other detail on the sets. Her enthusiasm and energy at such an age is a lesson for all of us.”

Rituparna is not only one of the significant characters in this story, but also a producer of this project. “The film will see an all India release and dubbed in Hindi too. So, we are all excited about it.” The film bats for remembering our roots while living in the present. “It’s good to be modern but treasuring age-old wisdom is also important.”

Recently, Rituparna was in Himachal Pradesh for a shoot with an all-women cast in the lap of magnificent mountains. Mesmerised by the natural beauty of the Dhauldhar range, she says, “I am grateful to our producers for zeroing-in on Dharamshala for the shoot. With snow-capped peaks around us, it was all too surreal.” The shoot was for the film Nazarbandi, directed by Debarati Bhowmick. “Films like this are rare. It’s a thriller with the story revolving around five women.”

With most of the crew being dominated by women too, Rituparna says, “We had a blast shooting. Except one, the rest of the cast comprised my juniors. We had great fun shooting the project.”

With the spotlight on her films, Ajogya, Distances and Puratawn at the ‘I View World International Film Festival’ in Delhi, Rituparna was in happy space.

Through acting and producing films, dance has stayed as her first passion. She still performs extensively with her dance troupe. Trained in Odissi and Manipuri, she prefers fusion forms. “In fact, I am in the middle of writing a musical right now,” she reveals. She shares that each film of her career has given her something unique. “I am in the industry for the love of acting. How a film does is secondary; the first thing is to give my best.”

When not acting, or dancing, Rituparna likes to read and write. She is into writing a short film these days, as she preps for a musical along with it. One of her recent projects is Ittar, which marks a comeback of actor Deepak Tijori. “It is a mature love story,” Rituparna informs. Then there is Kal Trighori, a horror film by Arbaaz Khan. Salt with Chandan Roy Sanyal, Jihad, directed by Agnidev Chatterjee, and couple of Bengali films, including Madam Sengupta with Rahul Bose, are also in the pipeline for her. “I have been fortunate to have gotten my audiences’ love and I love them equally,” says Rituparna.

She is happy that alongside commercial films, now an audience has been cultivated for content-driven films too. “Formula is going to stay in cinema, but the contours of the industry are changing. Artistes are getting busier,” she signs off.

Lifestyle