Always fascinated by the arts, actor Ananya Sengupta participated in dance shows and plays during her school days and did some serious theatre during her college days. But don’t assume that the svelte and talented actor is a Bengali. “My surname, Sengupta, is misleading. I am neither a Bengali girl nor I am from Kolkata. I am a North Indian, from a Hindi speaking family. I grew up in the city of Mumbai,” shares the Lucknow-born actor.
Ananya received two back-to-back best actor awards for her short films Enigma and Silver Gandhi at the Golden Sparrow International Film Festival and the Port Blair International Film Festival respectively, and now, she is ready for her web and film debuts. We chat with the young talent about films and more. Excerpts.
Tell us about your role in High Dose?
I play one of the lead roles in this web series. I play Revati, a free-spirited young girl but honestly, I didn’t have to prepare much. I read the script thoroughly to understand the nuances of the character which has several layers. She was a drug addict since she went through a lot in her past including her parents’ separation and fighting loneliness. So, I had to get into the character’s skin to make it come alive on the screen. I’m looking forward to its release this October.
How was the experience of working on OTT?
I am yet to explore the medium more deeply and I expect to do some light-hearted roles soon too.
Tell us about your multilingual movie The Gang?
The title has now been changed to Madrasi Gang. I play the leading lady, Saritha. All I can say is this is my most favourite role out of all the characters I have played so far. It’s a trilingual film, so we had to deliver the dialogues in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. Needless to say, I had to prepare myself accordingly and worked on my dialogue delivery, quite a bit. Since I loved the character, it actually became easier for me. The movie also features Ashmit Patel, Adhyayan Suman and Ranga Jinu.
Any other upcoming projects?
I am going to start shooting for a Tamil film which is a remake of a Telugu film called Brochevarevarura. I will be essaying Nivetha Pethuraj’s character, Shalini. I also play the lead role in a new Telugu film opposite Naveen Chandra, known for Andala Rakshasi (2012), which is being directed by critically acclaimed filmmaker Srinivasa Raju.
Any Bollywood director and actor you dream of working with?
There are many but Shoojit Sircar would be one of them for sure. I would like to work with actor Sidharth Malhotra because he was too good in his recent film Shershaah.
If you were not an actor what would you have been and why?
I don’t know! Perhaps, due to my interests in the beauty space, I’d work in a salon helping people take care of their appearances. My mom and I talked about it when I was in my early teens.
High Dose will release soon.
sharmishtha.g@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @sharmidas