Sohini Sarkar and Vikram Chatterjee
Sohini Sarkar and Vikram ChatterjeeSourav Banerjee

Actors Vikram Chatterjee and Sohini Sarkar on their upcoming romantic horror comedy ‘Omorshongi’

Vikram Chatterjee and Sohini Sarkar play Anurag and Joyee in Omorshongi.
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Anurag and Joyee are childhood-buddies-turned-lovers who have done all their firsts together. If two people like these plan to get married, what would their life look like? Omorshongi, which sees Vikram Chatterjee and Sohini Sarkar playing Anurag and Joyee respectively, shows that their reel characters couldn’t get married, as Joyee dies untimely. However, even after her death, she can’t leave Anurag’s side. “Anurag is Joyee’s habit, obhyesh as we lovingly say in Bengali,” says Sohini.

We speak with Vikram and Sohini to know more about the film and their take on love.

Excerpts:

Q

What do you mean when you say Anurag is Joyee’s habit? What kind of habit are they?

A

Sohini: As we say, we never know the worth of water till the well is dry. You will only understand the importance of a person when he/she is not there. In the film, the situation is similar to that.

Q

What does omorshongi (companion for life) mean to you?

A

Vikram: A companion forever. Someone who would like to spend her life with me.

Sohini: Someone who would accept my flaws. Though the word ‘flaw’ is a very relative one, my omorshongi will have to be open to accept my flaws, and vice versa. There is a scene from Barfi! which is very close to my heart—when Barfi and Jhilmil grow old together. That’s the best part. When you are young and appealing, you will have many admirers, but when you are old, the person who takes care of you even on your last day, and passes on the pill or a glass of water is omorshongi for me.

Q

You seem to be great real-life friends. How has this friendship reflected in your screen characters?

A

Vikram: More than being good friends, we love pulling each other’s legs, that was fun. And Sohini loves to do these.

Sohini: And we never had any bad experience or any fallout.

Vikram: We didn’t come with any baggage and this was long on our wishlist, to be paired together.

Sohini: We even worked as a team, tweaked, and changed dialogues. It was so much fun.

Q

Will this movie be a break amid the host of thrillers releasing back-to-back?

A

Vikram: People have somehow forgotten to watch simple love stories. All they want are intense love stories. But Omorshongi is an out-and-out romantic film featuring a cute and jealous ghost.

Sohini: Yes, it is not even scary. And you wouldn’t find anyone who hasn’t fallen in love.

Q

To fall in love, how important is a good friendship?

A

Sohini: Friendship is the most and only important thing. I think not just for love, it is important in all kinds of relationships—be it a mother-daughter relationship or a father-son relationship. Without a friendship, even this interview wouldn’t have happened. Everybody needs a comfort zone to open up.

Vikram: And if the friendship is strong, wading through difficult times and situations becomes a lot easier. Hadn’t there been a bond, even the people we work with—makeup artistes or stylists—wouldn’t have come at odd hours to help us out.

Q

Do you have a criterion to make friends?

A

Sohini: It doesn’t really work that way per say, but I believe if something is meant to happen, it will happen. And you wouldn’t even know how.

Vikram: Not just for friendships, this works for relationships as well, when you will see that you like to talk to one person even in a room full of people.

Sohini: For things like these, I think it’s your heart and not the brain that decides in these matters. It’s all about the vibe that matches.

Q

Do you believe in ghosts? Are you a fan of horror movies?

A

Sohini: I love watching horror films, but not the ugly or gory ones. I would rather watch Ram Gopal Varma’s films. Raat is one of my favourite horror movies. Once it happened that I came back from the shoot and switched on the television and Raat was playing. I stayed alone that time, and the voices from the TV made me believe that I was not alone in the house. I knew that I would feel shit scared, yet I couldn’t help but put that channel on. I was so scared that I rang my mom at 12.30 am and asked her to just speak with me. The same thing happened again. I watched a horror film and went up to my mom’s room to sleep beside her.

It’s like falling in love. You know you might end up getting hurt, yet, you can’t control your feelings.

Vikram: I feel scared to watch horror movies. I can’t watch it alone at all, but I might if there’s company. I don’t like the concept of jump-scare. However, I like watching horror comedies, like a Stree or Stree 2, or even Chamatkar.

Omorshongi is running at the theatres.

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