It's not easy to retain that fresh look after ruling the TRPs as a lead in about 25-30 television serials for over two decades. That's the ever-fashionable Monami Ghosh for you. The petite actor, who won our hearts as Piu in the trendsetting movie Belaseshe by filmmaker duo Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy, will be back in the same avatar in Belashuru, which is slated for release this May 20.
The actor spoke about the same with us and also shot two of her favourite summer wedding looks exclusively for us.
Belashuru is releasing seven long years after Belashese. Must be excited?
Of course, all of us are, just as the audience too is waiting in anticipation for Belashuru. That it will finally hit the theatres after a pandemic-induced delay, has us all excited and we all have a lot of expectations around it in terms of audience response.
How has your character developed in Belashuru?
In Belasheshe, my character, Piu, was the youngest daughter of the family who had just gotten married. She was her father's (played by late actor Soumitra Chatterjee) most beloved child. But this film sees her after a few years of marriage and when one starts one's own family, there are many challenges and crises on the way which one must navigate through. She too, along with her husband Palash (played by Anindya Chatterjee), goes through such phases. There are those moments of tension and heated exchanges between them but they learn and overcome everything together.
This was your last work with late actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta. Any moments you will cherish forever?
Working with them itself is an experience and I am fortunate to have that twice over. There are so many things I had learnt from Soumitra Chatterjee. He had so much dedication. I remember he was not keeping well during the filming and had to be escorted from the car to the sets. But once he got in front of the camera, none of that showed. In terms of stardom, he was one of the global icons, but that never showed even for once in his attitude toward any of us.
Swatilekha Sengupta too treated me with so much love. There is one scene in the film where she slaps me and while filming the part, she used to hug me and give me a peck as compensation. When I watched the film with her at a private screening, she hugged me for my performance and I will cherish that forever.
Despite your success in television, nobody has explored you much in films…
It would have been great to work in more films. I would have been glad to be a part of unusual and different films. I love exploring various kinds of content and not just doing roles where I only get to sing and dance. If such offers come I will be the happiest.
Do you plan to explore Hindi content like your contemporaries?
When I started my career I got offers from Ekta Kapoor for one of her serials and Anurag Basu too thought of me for a television role. But I didn't have much courage to go to Mumbai as I was very new to the industry. Now, I don't have any concrete plans but yes, I am open to experiments.
Tell us about your upcoming projects?
There are two more films and a new web series that I am exploring apart from judging Dance Dance Junior's season 3.
How else do you plan to explore yourself?
I have a YouTube channel and I love creating travel vlogs. Also, dancing is something very close to my heart and I do many shows and have plans to do something related to it. There's also something interesting coming up right after Belashuru's release that I will announce shortly.
In all these years of acting, what's that one lesson you have learnt?
You need to be original to survive. Besides hard work, you need to have a unique identity to make a mark and outlast others.
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Fashion choices:
I love experimenting with the newest fashion trends and love keeping a tab on the latest global trends and fashion updates. For daily wear, I like comfy shorts and cotton shirts or tees in light colours. Apart from black, I love vibrant colours. I like wearing all kinds of outfits but I love saris the most and nose pins are my favourite accessories besides jhumkas and waistbands.
Essential items in your bag: A charger, lip balm and body mist
Belashuru releases on May 20.
Twitter: @sharmidas