‘I want to play fun characters’

A graduate from the National School of Drama,Delhi,Chatterjee started her career almost a decade ago. Since the roles that she was offered were mostly in foreign productions,such as Brick Lane and Bombay Summer,the actor decided to set up her base in both London and Mumbai,and lived out of a suitcase wherever each project took her. However,in 2011,she decided to move back to Mumbai. “I realise that cinema anywhere in the world is the same; the way commercial films dominate the market and the independent films struggle for space,” she says,“That apart,it no longer matters where you are based. Irrfan,is a case in point.” Chatterjee did Joe Wright’s 2012 costume drama Anna Karenina after moving to India.

The 32-year-old is also excited about the direction Indian cinema is taking and is eager to be part of the space where the line between commercial and off-beat films is blurring. Impressed in particular with 2012’s acclaimed film Vicky Donor,she says,“It was a film that broke so many stereotypes — the hero is a sperm donor,his mother drinks and so does the grandmother. It took the taboo away from the word ‘sperm’ but it wasn’t preaching anything.”

While she hopes that interesting roles come her way in such space,Chatterjee says that commercial filmmakers alone don’t stereotype her. “It happens within the indie space too. Aditya Bhattacharya wanted me to play a jhola-toting journalist in his film BMW. I asked him,‘why would you not offer me the role of the gangster’s moll,who is flirtatious,cunning and wields her own power?’ That’s when he realised it would be a good idea,” she says.

Currently,the petite actor has a mix of Indian and international films lined up. While the acclaimed Dekh India Circus,Anant Mahadevan’s Gaur Hari Dastaan and Monsoon Shootout await release,she is finishing work on Madhuri Dixit’s comeback film Gulaab Gang and an Indo-French production,Sunrise. “And then there is the most unlikeliest of all,I Love NY where I play Sunny Deol’s girlfriend. I took it up because it is a fun character of a career-driven woman and also because for once,the makers didn’t see me as the stereotypical oh-so-serious actor.”

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