Bengali actor Aparajita Auddy on her two Durga Puja releases, Kishore Kumar Junior and Monojder Odbhut Bari

Bengali actor Aparajita Auddy, who shot to fame with Praktan and Haami, speaks of her twin Puja releases, Kishore Kumar Junior and Monojder Odbhut Bari
Bengali actors Prosenjit Chatterjee and Aparajita Auddy
Bengali actors Prosenjit Chatterjee and Aparajita Auddy

She always lights up the screen with her smile, but that dazzling smile is not her USP. Probably one of the most underrated actors in Bengal, Aparajita Auddy is among those few talents, who get noticed even while sharing screen space with veterans like Soumitra Chatterjee or stars like Prosenjit Chatterjee.

 Over the past few years, her brilliant performances in commercial successes, such as, Belaseshe, Praktan, Projapoti Biskut and Haami, has carved her a niche in Tollywood, with the audience eagerly awaiting her next release. This Puja will see two releases of Auddy, Kishore Kumar Junior and Monojder Odbhut Bari. In  Kaushik Ganguly’s Kishore Kumar Junior, she will be again seen playing Prosenjit Chatterjee’s wife after Praktan. Though she has a guest appearance as a nautch girl with a comic touch in Monojder Odbhut Bari, it is her song Nuchi, from the film that has gone viral with more than one and half lakh views on YouTube alone. Looking beautiful in a sequined red chiffon kaftan, the curvy actor sat down for a heart-to-heart chat with Indulge at Novotel on a part cloudy part humid afternoon. Excerpts.

<em>Actor Aparajita Auddy</em>
Actor Aparajita Auddy

We have seen you in radically different roles in each movie. So, what does one expect from you in Kishore Kumar Junior (KKJ)?

This is a very different role since the movie has a unique story line – it’s about the life of an artiste, a konthi, who makes living by singing the songs of his idol, Kishore Kumar. I play the wife of the protagonist, who tries hard to balance and run the family. The frustration, the ups and downs, the middle class wants and desires, temptations, hurt and overarching goodness, all this makes the character so human, so flesh and blood. My character resonates with so many people whom we come across in daily life, who have been victims of circumstances, but yet at times, they do something so extraordinary. Kaushik Ganguly has put together a director’s emotion and intelligence to come up with KKJ.

<em>Actor Aparajita Auddy with Prosenjit Chatterjee and the cast and crew of</em> Kishore Kumar Junior
Actor Aparajita Auddy with Prosenjit Chatterjee and the cast and crew of Kishore Kumar Junior

That one song Nuchi from Monojder Odbhut Bari is setting people on a roller coaster laughter ride. How did you manage to be such a funny nautch girl?

It’s Ram Kumar Chattopadhyay’s four and a half minutes song and you won’t believe, I was given only an hour’s time to wrap it up. There was also no choreographer and I am not a trained Kathak dancer. I was thrilled and honoured by the kind of faith my director (Anindya Chatterjee) reposed on me.

You have stolen the thunder from actor Soumitra Chatterjee in that song.

I am always very scared when I have to give a shot with such stalwarts. The nervousness also set in when I had to give a shot with such great actors as Churni Ganguly and Neil Mukherjee during the first day of Haami’s shooting. I was just thinking if I would be able to deliver. A panic always occurs in such situations but that also in a way helps me to perform.

<em>Actor Aparajita Auddy</em>
Actor Aparajita Auddy

Do you have any regrets that recognition has come late in life?

No, I always get what I want in life even if that comes late. And at times its better for things to happen late since by that time your skillsalso get honed and your span increases many times. Look at Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bacchchan, they are proving their potential even at this age.

You are also a part of Pavel’s Rosogolla, a movie where Kaushik Ganguly’s son Ujaan will be debuting. What’s your role in it?

In Rosogolla I play a zamindar’s wife, who helps Nabin Chandra Das (inventor of the sweet, rosogolla) with the capital required to set up his business. The character is extremely different and so is the accent.

<em>Actor Aparajita Auddy</em>
Actor Aparajita Auddy

You have become very choosy about the roles, is it?

Yes, at a time I was concentrating on quantity. I have done more than 50-60 telefilms. But for the past few years since 2007-08, I have become very selective. Since my looks can’t be much experimented with, the mannerisms, personality and dimensions of the characters are what I work on.

You have worked with so many directors, who are your favourites?

I love Shiboprosad and Nandita’s works and I am ever grateful to them for setting such a milestone for me. Kaushik Ganguly and Anindya Banerjee are like my gurus. But I feel Mainak Bhaumik has exploited me as an actor in incredibly quirky and different ways. You have to see it to believe how he has used me in his next, Generation Ami.

<em>Actor Aparajita Auddy</em>
Actor Aparajita Auddy

What are the next projects in hand?

I will be be acting in Kaushik Ganguly’s Jesthyo Putro and also Shiboprosad Mukherjee’s untitled next. I just completed Mainak Bhowmik’s web series and will be acting in another web series, Sourabh Chakraborty’s Dhanbad Blues, where I play Rajatava Dutta’s wife. I am also reading a few scripts, so, let’s see (smiles).

How different is it to work for web series?

Acting in web series is very different since in digital media the pauses are different and you can be more experimental with acting.

How different is Aparajita Auddy in real life?

Very very different (laughs). I am actually extremely pampered in real life, even my seven-year-old son pampers me. I still play with toys and dolls and live in a huge, loving joint family.

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