Abarto hits Kolkata screens
“I am more at ease in portraying character roles” - Joya Ahsan
As
her debut Indian film “Abarto” hit the screens in Kolkata on Friday,
well-known Bangladeshi actress Jaya Ahsan is both excited as well as a
little anxious how the audience there receives her role in it.
Having
wowed Kolkata film lovers with her impressive performance in
award-winning “Guerrilla” (directed by Nasiruddin Yousuff Bachchu) at
the Kolkata International Film Festival two years ago, Jaya said on
Friday that she hoped the audience here would not reject her role in
“Abarto” as the present-day avatar of Charulata, the lead character in
Satyajit Ray's movie “Charulata”.
The reason for her anxiety is
that there has been some speculation if her role in “Abarto” is
reminiscent of Madhabi Mukherjee's role in Ray's “Charulata”.
“My
character Charu is not exactly a take-off from Charulata, and I simply
am awestruck about Madhabi Mukherjee's portrayal of the character,”
insists Jaya. “But yes, like every woman of this age, my Charu also
feels cooped up in the 'abarto' (cycle) and wants to move beyond.”
About
similarities between her character and that of Charulata in the Ray
classic, Jaya said, “Both Charulata and my Charu belong to north
Kolkata. Both are very traditional and yet steeped in modernity and I
guess in both films the two are pivotal characters. But the direct
similarities end there.”
According to Jaya, experimentation was
more predominant in Bengali films on this side of the border. “Here the
audience seems to be more receptive to multilayered films and their
tastes are different.”
Jaya, who had got rave reviews for her
portrayal in films like “Chorabali” (2012), internationally acclaimed
“Guerrilla” (2011), besides “Dubsatar” (2010) and “Bachelor” (2003),
said, “I am more at ease in portraying character roles.”
About the
difference in working in Tollywood and Dhaliwood, Jaya said “I would
love to work in both industries. We talk in the same language, the
surroundings are so similar in the two 'Bengals; there exists the same
middle, upper middle and lower classes.
And the little tales of
woe and misery of the poor in both parts of the border remain the same.
So, how can the film language be different?”
The actress said
Bangladesh is as possessive about Satyajit Ray and Rabindranath Tagore
as India, and expressed the hope that the move by FICCI and producers of
Bangladesh film industry to open up the market was replete with great
possibilities.
Happy that “Abarto” will be among the first few
Bengali films lined up for release in Bangladesh territory, its
director-actor Arindam said, “Abarto is a metaphor signifying planetary
movement in this universe.”
“Like planets in the solar system, we
are moving in the same axis; we are playing with our emotions, our
values and moral progress,” he said.
