IBNS: Actor Madhumita Sarcar plays one of the leads in the ensemble cast of Rahool Mukherjee’s complete romantic film Dilkhush, which releases this Friday. In an interview with IBNS correspondent Souvik Ghosh, Madhumita speaks on the SVF film, her craft, and how she utilizes the hill trips in terms of her career…
Q. Tell us how were your Saraswati Puja days at a younger age?
A. My Saraswati Puja was about wearing sarees, going to school, and having fun with friends. Since I was brought up with many restrictions, Saraswati Puja was a breath of fresh air for me as I used to enjoy some kind of freedom on this day.
Q. How different is Dilkhush as a romantic film?
A. The uniqueness of a romantic film depends on the definition of love it gives. But this film is about love being the ‘hero’ as well as the ‘villain’, meaning two people (read lovers) are enough to turn a relationship good or bad. Dilkhush is not only dealing with the commercial aspect of the romantic film but also with the intricacies of a relationship. Those intricacies of a relationship, which are often ignored in regular life, are explored and highlighted in this film.
Image Credit: SVF
Q. Rahool Mukherjee talks about giving freedom to actors on set. How did that help you in your craft in this film?
A. An actor’s responsibility is to understand and own a character. That understanding readies an actor for any impromptu scene if it emerges. So when a director gives freedom, it helps actors to offer suggestions on certain scenes. But the director also pulls the string sometimes if he/she finds the story is getting hampered by the actors’ thoughts. So this constant friction was there on Dilkhush set.
Q. What do you mean by owning a character? Do you follow method acting?
A. I don’t believe in incorporating the character into me unless I need to portray some physical attributes. I create a backstory of a character. The audience will never know the backstory but they will understand my character’s background following the mannerisms. I make these backstories with the help of directors. So there is no method as such but having a strong background is very important to slip into a character.
Q. You visit hills frequently as we all know. Do such frequent trips help you in disowning the character with whom you create such a strong bond?
A. No. I feel stagnant after working at a stretch. After working for a certain period of time, sometimes overconfidence grows within professionals. Now actors need to remain fresh to play different characters. I visit hills to put a brake on the stagnancy and return to work afresh.
Image Credit: SVF
Q. Are you feeling any such stagnancy considering your loads of work across mediums?
A. No, I like this busy schedule because I realize my worth with the increasing work pressure. We all want to work but our worth is tested only when we are overwhelmed with work.
Q. How do learning different crafts, which you are very keen to, enrich your work?
A. Definitely it helps. Every moment is transforming me. I can say I am not the same person I was last year. I have transformed at least a bit for good only. I will try to keep learning small things to keep on transforming.
Q. What more do you want to learn?
A. I want to learn how to play drums. I may get enrolled in a class to learn drums. I feel actors need to learn everything to some extent.
Q. Did you have any jamming sessions with Nilayan Chatterjee (music director-singer-songwriter) during the shooting?
A. No, not during shooting because the schedule was very hectic. But we did some jamming sessions at the beginning of the shooting and after wrapping up.
