My Teacher had a crush on me: Rituparna SenGupta

An unconventional face Rituparna Sen Gupta doesn’t need an introduction. Rituparna has come a long way in realistic cinema as an actor. To have won a National Award in 1998 the best female-category for Rituparno Ghosh's Dahan, where she played Romita, a newly-wed who becomes the victim of sexual assault, explains it all for this epitome of talent. And now, this actor is all set with her forthcoming film Love Khichdi to release this Friday, which she says is the beginning of her career in mainstream cinema, although she has already done a couple of films in the same league. In an interview, Rituparna SenGupta talks at length about her character and future plans to make it big in B- Town. Shed some light on your character in the film? My character is of a Bengali girl who is an independent personality. She has got her own principles and doesn’t compromise on anything for them. She is modern, yet an introvert who knows where to draw the line. She runs a bookshop in a hotel where she happens to meet a guy whom she starts falling for. However, she eventually loses interest as she discovers the personality of guy, and her interest level is less than the guy’s interest. Have you ever experienced such attention in your real-life? Yes, loads (blushes), since the school times. I was stalked by a guy, who would bunk his classes, just to give me a greeting card. He would wait throughout the day just to get one glimpse of me. He never dared to approach me though and once when I confronted him he confessed his feelings for me. Another one was my teacher in painting classes, he had to resign, but the fear of losing me gave him a reason to change the decision and he too actually confessed his feelings to me. But I was a teenager, a kid…those were funny days. Why this sudden inclination towards main-stream cinema and up-beat roles like in Love Khichdi when you busy doing unconventional roles? Be it realistic or main-stream, I personally feel Indian cinema is going through a sea of change. The films have become script-driven and after doing unconventional, in other words realistic cinema, I have a desire to explore main-stream too. There is so much to explore in terms of roles. I am a big name in Bengali cinema, but have no ego hassles and inhibitions about Hindi. I have always banked upon my talent and hard work and will continue to do. I honestly feel, I have a big scope in main-stream cinema and with acting as my agenda I am sure I’ll be able to make it big here as well. Love Khichdi is a beginning where I play a conservative, polite yet today’s modern girl with whom everyone will relate. Love Khichdi is a film with which everyone will relate to, because everyone either has gone, or are, or will go through such situations in life. It is a typical masala, yet reality driven today’s film. Love Khichdi is the beginning as I have loads to explore further. You mentioned about the conservative, polite yet modern nature of the woman you are playing in the film, how far do you relate with the character you are in real-life, or is it poles-apart? No I am not poles-apart; I have got loads of similarity…she is a confident yet conservative girl. Out going, yet not desperate. She knows how to balance her life which is somewhere me. SRK is another film you have worked in? Is the film to do with the King Khan or it’s just the title that is creating hype? (Laughs), I can’t reveal much. Hmm, SRK is just a gimmick though, but yes, the story of the film goes well with the title. It’s an emotional-comedy and I must say Vinay Pathak has done a wonderful job. What happened to Mittal Vs Mittal…what’s the reason for the delay in the release? Recession has taken a toll over everyone, including our industry. However, Mittal Vs Mittal is a wonderful work accomplished by Karan Razdan and the film will soon release and I am really looking forward to the response it gets. Beside SRK and Mittal Vs Mittal, what other films are in the pipeline? I am currently working for Avartan with Rajat Kapoor and Antara Mali and for another film- a women issue oriented film with Divya Dutta, Yashpal Sharma and Atul Kulkarni- the story of a surrogate mother and a corporate woman. Coming back to Love Khichdi, one boy and so many girls…were you troublesome for Randeep? How was the girl gang on the sets? Well, unfortunately, we girls don’t have a single scene together, so didn’t get an opportunity to do so. However, Randeep did not leave any stone unturned to pull the legs of his co-stars, including me. Randeep and I were to shoot for a sensuous song in the film. I was very apprehensive, since I have never attempted something of this sort before. Randeep was making me comfortable and would always tease me for my Bengali accent. He would come up with few Bengali words and claim to help me come out of the accent. It was a sheer pleasure to work with Randeep. Promos are creating lot of buzz, what do you think- why should people go and watch this film? Hoardings featuring Randeep Hooda surrounded by seven girls are enough to create a curiosity among one and all, and also as to what this film is all about. And that will give a reason for every cine-goer to vouch for this film. It is, as I said earlier, a reality-driven film, yet very larger than life kinds, which will take the audience to the dreamy world. It’s an honest attempt by the people associated with the film, and I am quite confident about the audience liking the film.

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