Playing Parts

Seema Biswas is seated in a corner of a five-star hotel ballroom and is immersed in a conversation with a journalist. There are plenty of nods and tentative hand movements.

Seema Biswas is seated in a corner of a five-star hotel ballroom and is immersed in a conversation with a journalist. There are plenty of nods and tentative hand movements. Suddenly she looks up and spots me. She smiles a polite smile and asks me to join them. If the journalist is offended,she doesnt show it. You know what,even if I go to public places like airports or a railway stations people dont recognize me. Once,this guy stared at me for a long time and asked me if I reside in his locality in Delhi,I said yes and carried on an entirely mindless conversation with him, laughs Biswas.

Yes,she is a storyteller. In a half-an-hour conversation,Biswas took us from the cloistered one-bedroom apartment in Delhi (she shared the apartment with five other girls during her struggling days in National School of Drama) to Nana Patekars house in Maharashtra where she attended a sign-language workshop for Khamoshi (Sanjay Leela Bhansali and I took an autorickshaw to Nanas place). When Shekhar Kapur took me for Bandit Queen,I was passionately into theatre. I was a part of half-a-dozen plays in Delhi and I was playing the lead in all of them. In fact,the play that Shekhar saw men in for the first time had me playing the role of a nubile,beautiful girl who had men eating out of her hands. A fry cry from my role in Bandit Queen. Thats why I love theatre,anything is possible here, smiles Biswas.

Bandit Queen was released and Biswas was the toast of the town. My performance was appreciated but I was not getting any roles. Do you see me as Aamir Khans mother or sister? Im much too dark-skinned for that. I realised that there were hardly any role for people like me in Bollywood, she says. Until Khamoshi happened. I heard Bhansali was looking for me and I conveyed my interest in the project. Then suddenly I got to know that both Nana and Manisha were participating in a sign language workshop already. I dropped everything to join them in Mumbai, she says.

Her performance as an anguished hearing and speech-impaired woman earned her a lot of acclaim,a few awards even,but Biswas was soon introduced to the shadow that would haunt her career. Even today people tell me that I have not done anything special after Bandit Queen. Its almost as if I cant do anything that will measure upto that role. But I dont take that negatively. Even a great actor like Anupam Kher is still known as the Saaransh actor, says Biswas.

Yet,Biswas seeks creative satisfaction from theatre (I get to do some wonderful work in that medium) and an occasional role in a film like Mahesh Majrekars City of Gold,the promotional tour of which has brought her to Kolkata. Its a wonderful film which actually addresses an important issue. After this I have Deepa Mehtas Cooking with Stella which is a situational comedy, she says.

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Kolkata
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