Priyanka Sarkar on playing Suhita in Bhamini

I felt Bhamini is very relevant. We, as actors, keep exploring newer kinds of content and topics, and keeping that in mind I resonated with the newbie director Swarnayu Maitra. I really found the subject of the film interesting. The film talks about so many things that are still untouched, unexplored, like the indigenous Mukha dance form. There are other regional art forms which are so popular, but this isn’t much talked about, especially in the mainstream media. Thus, this is a big part of the film, or you can say, an important character...the masks, the attire, the performances. My character Suhita also talks about restoring and carrying forward the art form, so that somehow, during the course of modernisation, it doesn’t get lost. She says that she’s just the medium, and thinks it to be her responsibility to pass the baton on to the future generations. On some levels, I could relate with it as an artiste. Along with this, the film also has a thriller element, which is the unethical practices in Balurghat, a small Bengal town, where probably it is a little easy to do all these. This medical trial and the element of thrill is interesting.

No, it is not at all similar. The significance of all these (masked) dance forms is that each of these masks represent a character, it can be Maa Durga, Maa Chandi, Narasimha, which is an important aspect in our film. Or, to put differently, the dancers interpret the mythological events that are there, and perform those. In this film, Gomira comes in a different way. But yes, the similarity between these dance forms is that, both are very physical, and the artistes perform the stories in the same manner. In this film, we will see Gomira performances, performed by professional Gomira artistes. The various performances in the film that we will see, which will also help the story propel forward, have been performed by experts, who have been doing these all their lives. You would also see us, but it has been shot strictly under their guidance, and is only added whatever was needed in the script. 

It didn’t take much time to get ready, but we tried to keep it as authentic as possible, and not make it very commercial since it is used in the film. Gomira is usually performed by men, since it’s very regional, and involves a lot of physical exertion, and the men only play the women characters, just like the way it is done in Chhau. But here, one can see a group of underprivileged women, led by Suhita, and we have tried to maintain the authenticity. It didn’t take much time. We took the guidance of the real artistes and working with the masks is definitely a unique experience. The masks are so heavy, weighing almost 12-15 kg.

See, it is not just about a new director. The question arises in my mind with every project. But we don’t have any other option than taking this leap of faith. As people say, the best work of my career till date is Chirodini Tumi Je Amar. I am blessed to have it as my debut, but we had to have that faith in Raj Chakraborty. It was his debut film too. If you have a look at my filmography, you will find that I have worked with many new directors, who have made more films in the future, fortunately, but their first project was with me. I like working with new directors, they come with a different kind of enthusiasm. What I can do is that when I am in front of the character, I can try my best to do justice to the character, whether I could bring the director’s vision to life is very important, and how the working experience of my co-actors, directors, and production house is with me. If we bother about the outcome of the film too much, it might hamper my mental health.

There are a few, like Aneek Chaudhuri’s The Zebras, Pradipta Bhattacharya's Nadharer Bhela, then Maya Satya Bhram, and also a thriller called Britto Rahasya.