Maternal Instinct

Actor Nandita Das,who was honoured with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) by Jerome Bonafont,the French Ambassador to India,on Friday,will also be back on the big screen after three years. She returns to acting with Onir’s I Am,a compilation of four short stories,that releases on April 29. She essays the role of Afia,a woman who wants to have a child through artificial insemination,despite social disapproval of her becoming a single parent.

Das herself was five months pregnant while shooting for the film in Kolkata. “Onir assured me that they would not show my baby bump. At that stage,Afia wanted a baby more than I,” she says,“Since I have always been free-spirited and carefree,I was apprehensive about becoming a mother in real life.” Now a mother of eight-month-old Vihaan,Das says she is taking another sabbatical to spend time with her family. But,before that,the audience will see her in the film Sold,an international collaboration based on a novel of the same name by Patricia McCormick,on child trafficking along the Indo-Nepal border.

Currently in Delhi with her businessman husband Subodh Maskara and her son for the French award,she says she was informed about this honour about two years ago. “Since then,we have been in constant dialogue with the French embassy,” she says,before adding,“I don’t know how long I can speak,since Vihaan might wake up any time”.