Bengali actors gaining more foothold in Bollywood

Bollywood has always opened its gates for budding talent and there seems to be a sudden demand for Bengali actors in Hindi cinema post the box-office success of Vidya-Balan starrer Kahaani and Paoli Dam's Hate Story.

Bollywood has always opened its gates for budding talent and there seems to be a sudden demand for Bengali actors in Hindi cinema post the box-office success of Vidya-Balan starrer Kahaani and Paoli Dam's Hate Story.

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Kolkata is no longer just a city, it is a character in Bollywood films and the Bengali stars are now receiving acclaim for their performances. The last few films including Kahaani had two Bengali actors –Parambrata Chatterjee, playing the role of a cop and Saswata Chatterjee as Bob Biswas.

In Vikram Bhatt's much-talked about bold film, Hate Story, Paoli Dam made her debut in Bollywood. Also, Bengali film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee would be seen in soon-to-be-released film, Shanghai.

It started off with Bidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan) and Bob Biswas's (Saswata) bone-chilling turn in Kahaani, the first sleeper hit of the year, directed by Sujoy Ghosh. The Bengali actor's portrayal of a poker faced contract killer Bob Biswas in the film won him accolades from all corners and the role of Parambrata (grandson of the legendary filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak) as the supportive cop, Rana, was another surprise package.

Then it was Paoli who created ripples with a bare-back shot in Vivek Agnihotri's Hate Story. To her credit, the film emerged as a box office winner. "I had a fantastic welcome in Bollywood. It is a brand in itself. I want to do more films here. If I get good and interesting projects in Bengali then I would definitely do. The Hindi film industry has been accommodating. I had a fantastic experience," Paoli told PTI.