Indulge Kolkata turns 7: Darshana Banik opens about her latest projects, her journey in the industry, and more

It’s really great to see how the two very different characters and a song have all once again shone the spotlight on me, bringing praises from the audience and the industry alike. I also did a Bangladeshi film called Antaratma, which also did well. Also, there was a series called Save the Tigers Season 2, in Telugu, which did well. It feels great to break myself over and over again and do a good job. I don’t want to fall into a comfort zone. I love doing various characters and trying out my luck in other regional industries, including the South and Bhojpuri, besides Hindi. It’s not always that everything works in my favour but I still try to do what I can, and at times when I achieve success, it keeps me going.

Opportunities were way better before. The Telugu industry has always churned out great content and glossy films with great budgets. But now, with the Telugu films dominating Indian cinema and representing it globally, talents from Bollywood too have flocked in, which has shrunk the scope of work for actors from regional industries, including us. But still, opportunities are way better since it is a multi-crore industry. The demand for Telugu or any South Indian movies is also high, since for their audience, cinema is like a religion.

One reason is that single-screen halls have drastically decreased in Bengal, and fewer movies, especially the commercial ones, have been made since the time we started our film careers. The number of urban films has increased in number where the storyline is mature, requiring mature artistes, and probably I don’t yet fit in that age bracket. But we are also seeing commercial films making a comeback. We saw how big hits Khadaan and Bohurupi, were and I think with the resurgence of commercial movies, our opportunities would also increase.

Recently, I heard Jaideep Ahlawat saying that there’s no motivation cropping up every day for an actor. Rather, we should learn from the army on how they keep fit, strong and ever ready to face their enemies whenever there’s a war. Similarly, actors should learn every day and be ready for that one chance. Also, both physical and mental health are of utmost importance, and for that, we should have a world outside of the profession. We should feel grateful for what we have and be content in our lives and celebrate them.

I love classics and any film for that matter which is made with care, has good music and has great performances. Currently, I am watching The Family Man Season 3. I am a fan of the series and I am enjoying it thoroughly.

I want to do characters that have equally important roles and would love to carry the story on my shoulders. It needn’t necessarily be a woman-led story, but a story where I am an equal part of the main plot. I would also love to do comedy and play a police officer on screen—I find their lives very interesting.

The list is long and includes Raj Chakraborty, Kaushik Ganguly, Srijit Mukherji, Aparna Sen, and Jayabrata Das, and I know I am missing out on a lot of them.

There’s Abhirup Ghosh’s film with Abir Chatterjee, Priyanka Sarkar, and Bibriti Chatterjee. It has an interesting genre and storyline. There’s also a film with Bonny Sengupta, Anshuman Pratyush’s Uranchu, and a series directed by Debaloy Bhattacharya called Gorkir Maa with Sourav Das and Ananya Chatterjee. In Hindi, there’s a film called Aryabhatt Ka Zero with Ravi Kishen and a Bhojpuri film too.