Sauraseni Maitra lives her dream of playing a cop in Lalbazaar

Sauraseni Maitra loved living the life of a cop in the upcoming web series Lalbazaar
Sauraseni Maitra and Kaushik Sen in Lalbazaar
Sauraseni Maitra and Kaushik Sen in Lalbazaar

Playing a competent detective or a cop had always been a dream for the bubbly actor Sauraseni Maitra. “I had always wanted to play a tough cop or a sleuth on screen and finally with Lalbazaar, I get to play one,” tells the actor. A gripping tale of crime, Lalbazaar, produced by Surinder Films, is inspired by true stories from the world of crime. We had a small chat with Sauraseni about her role and more. Excerpts:

Tell us about your role in Lalbazaar?

I am playing Mira Dasgupta, one of the core team members of Kolkata police’s homicide department. This is for the first time that I have acted in a bilingual web series and believe you me when I say it’s really tough to shoot the same scenes twice over in two languages. Also, we had to get the Hindi accent right. When Surinder Films first offered me the role of Mira I was thrilled to bits to be able to play a cop and we had four script reading sessions to improvise our characters. The way Rongon Chakraborty would narrate the script, it would make the whole world of blood and gore come alive. The shooting also was very realistic since it depicted the underbelly of the city. There were many action scenes where I had to pack more than a punch or two and at the end of the day the entire crew was scared of me since I had hit a few of them too in all my enthusiasm (laughs).

<em>Sauraseni Maitra in Lalbazaar</em>
Sauraseni Maitra in Lalbazaar

How is Mira Dasgupta as a character?

Mira is a very independent and assertive young officer but she thinks that her boss is a bit overprotective and hesitates to assign her something dangerous since she is a woman. But she firmly believes that she can deliver better than her male colleagues if given a chance. Mira’s mother, like all moms, wants to see her married but her father is very supportive of her career in the police service. Mira hates corruption and she delves into danger without any backup plan.

<em>Sauraseni Maitra in Lalbazaar</em>
Sauraseni Maitra in Lalbazaar

How did you prepare for the role?

Besides reading the script carefully, I binge-watched a lot many crime series including Delhi Crime, Mind Hunter, Serial Killer And The Cop, Brooklyn 99, American Crime Story and others. I think this is the longest I have lived with a character. We began shooting in July last year and it went on for 50 days.

How did you spend the time during the lockdown?

The high point of then lockdown was doing a short film Bonobash for Windows Production. It was a learning process to act alone without any cue. I really enjoyed it.

What are the other projects we will see you in?

Besides Lalbazaar, there’s Arindam Sil’s Mayakumari where I play an assistant director. The rest of the projects are in limbo right now due to the pandemic.

sharmishtha.g@newindianexpress.com

@sharmidas

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