Nandita is all for a cause

Nandita doesn't mind doing regional films, provided they are meaty enough.

No matter what the language of the film is, Nandita Das is ready to act, if the story and her role are powerful. That is precisely the reason she is acting in debutant director Suman Ghosh’s forthcoming Bengali film, Padakkhep, which will be her third Bengali venture after Rituparno Ghosh’s Shubho Muhurrat and Mrinal Sen’s Amar Bhuban.

"The film deals with an issue that is relevant today. It is about how the elderly population feels marginalised as their children grow up and become engrossed in pursuing their ambitions," says Nandita on the phone from Delhi. She will play Soumitra Chatterjee’s daughter in Padakkhep, which has at its centre a father-daughter relationship. "Acting with Soumitrada, who is a legendary actor, is of course a major attraction," adds Nandita who will come down to Kolkata to shoot for the film in mid-March.

Besides Chatterjee and Nandita, Sabitri Chatterjee, Tota Roychowdhury and June Maliah will play other important characters in Padakkhep that will be produced by Bangla Talkies. "Initially I was apprehensive of acting in the film as the director is new but the script is very realistic and reflects his personal involvement with the subject, which made me accept the role,” adds Nandita.
The actor, who is aware of contemporary Bengali cinema, encourages “new genres in Bengali films.” “Bengali cinema carries the legacy of legendary filmmakers but one should not be burdened by it,” she says.

Nandita’s current assignments — Santosh Sivan’s untitled English film and Chitra Palekar’s Marathi film based on a Mahasweta Devi novel — once again confirm her commitment to good cinema. “I am playing an Englishman’s housekeeper in Sivan’s film that is set in colonial India. Palekar’s film is about a so-called witch and I am playing its protagonist. I am happy with what I have achieved,” she says.

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