The beautiful and versatile actress-turned-author Divya Dutta , who was in Kolkata to launch her second book The Stars in my Sky at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, talks about her upcoming projects.
You have had four film/OTT releases last year. All the characters are very different from each other. How do you mould into these characters?
I get into a role very nervously, and I keep holding the director’s hand tight to sail me through. It takes me 2-3 days to get into the role, and once I am into it, I let the role take over. In Dhaakad, I was supposed to kill someone and it sounded menacing to me. After the shot, my director started laugh-
ing, and all he had to say was where did you get all this meanness from? This is surely not you. So, this is what happens when you let the character decide. Contrarily, Nazarandaaz was very light and emo-
tional. So, it feels great to play someone who is like you and someone who is totally not you.
How do you choose a film?
It’s instinctive. My gut feeling knows it all. I am one of the very few actresses in the industry, who says an immediate yes, or an immediate no!
Tell us a little about your latest book...
It is a tribute to each one of those I have looked up to, got to work with and finally how I bond with them. Life comes full circle with each of them — be it Amitabh Bachchan, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi,
Shah Rukh or Salman Khan — each chapter is dedicated to a person. This book can also be called the book of gratitude. It is my experiential journey, but very personalised.
What is in the pipeline this year?
I have a film with Dibakar Banerjee, Tahira Kashyap’s Sharmajee Ki Beti, there is one with Anubhav Sinha, there’s an action film with Suniel Shetty and Anurag Kashyap, in which I am playing a cop, and there are two web shows. And there is also an English film releasing this year.