Auritra Ghosh is making her presence felt in the industry with one film after another. She was last seen in Paresh Rawal starrer Dharam Sankat Mein and this July 22nd will mark her third appearance in a feature film. She is coming with M Cream, which claims to be India’s first stoner film.
Catch her talking about her role in the film, her relationship with her co-actors Lushin Dubey and Barry John and what we can expect from this unique film.
This is your third major film after Love Breakup and Zindagi and Dharam Sankat mein. Talk about your role in the film?
I am playing Meghna in the film or Maggi, as she is called by her friends. Unfortunately, my role got shortened due to editing. The festival version was a bit long so we had to re-edit the film and it is that version only which is getting released. Nevertheless, she is an important part of the film. She is a Delhi girl. Her story starts off in the same city. She is the protagonist’s best friend. They have a special bond. She is a quintessential Delhi girl. She comes from a very big family. Her father abuses the mother. She has seen a lot of violence, growing up. She has kind of become a rebellion with time, due to that. She wants to love life on the edge. She lives her life, not caring about anyone or anything. As the story progresses, she explored much more things about her. I had been doing good girl roles, so this also came as a big challenge and I enjoyed it a lot.
That google ad had impressed one and all. You are still called the google ad girl.
Yes, that ad was special and I was playing a good girl. Again in Dharam Sankat Mein, I was playing a sanskari girl. So, I was looking for a change. I am glad that M Cream happened. Also the fact that MCream came to me before google and Dharam Sankat Mein, so it is given a right kind of balance as far as roles are concerned.
The film was stuck for 2 years. How was it to see a film in which you have a good role and it is not getting released?
I don’t think it got stuck anywhere. When the film was ready, it was thought that it is better if the film goes abroad, shown in different festivals and then come back to India for its release. Also, there were some funding issues, which got sorted with time. Never did we think that this film is not going to come out. We all were pretty excited about it and the producers of the film also pushed very hard to make it release.It is being heard that the film is not just limited to drugs. There are many issues also raised in the film.
It would be wrong to limit the film to just drugs. It is just the pretext. The film is a journey and what you see and explore in the journey. There is no start or end in the film like a typical Hindi film. The story goes on like a journey. Whatever you see in that journey is what the film shows. What I am saying would be easily connected when you see the film. And yes, the film does touch some issues. It talks about the Anna Hazare movement, which was a hot topic when we were shooting it. There are other political and social issues touché in the undercurrent as well.
This is one film which is also a great mix of old and young. There is Tom alter, Barry john, Lushin Dubey and then there are you guys..all young..how did the chemistry go on the set?
I know Lushin Dubey for some time now. I am a Delhi girl. I have worked with her. I travelled with her to Muscat to do a play called Salaam India. I was at the peak of my dance career but I had not started acting then. I knew Barry sir too before this film happened. We did many workshops together. When I was doing Love Breakup Zindagi, my producers stressed that we did a lot of workshop with Barry sir, he is lovely to work with.
He is a very lovely person to chat and discuss. I have a one on one scene and the scene is very intense. It went very smoothly. Such scenes can make you very uncomfortable as you have a veteran actor as your co-actor but because Barry sir was so smooth, I felt no problem in doing that scene perfectly. I don’t have any scene with Lushin and Tom Alter because they are playing Immad’s parents. But it was nice to have their presence on the sets.
Their mere presence on the sets was inspiring for us. I think we had a great time and this will surely reflect on our performances, when the film comes out this Friday.
Interview By- Shubham Pandey