By Sukant Deepak
New Delhi, Dec 20 : Seventeen years back, she made every critic take note of her debut performance in Sudhir Mishra’s ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’. She laughs that she could never better it. “Now I think I should not even try to. There was this magic about it — the story, the director, the time. Sometimes everything comes together for you. I feel touched and lucky to have it as my first film and keep telling Sudhir to make another one. Pritish Nandy, the producer, says that he does want to make a sequel. Well, I am just waiting to hear from him,” says actor Chitrangada Singh.
While the lockdown may have frozen shooting schedules, the period gave her enough space to write a film. “I wrote the screenplay and dialogues too. When you’re alone and know that you have to rely on yourself to complete everything — and it turns out well, that can be an excellent feeling. I am happy that I got the opportunity to get back to writing.”
Singh, who produced the film ‘Soorma’ and wrote the vision and premise with which she pitched it says that going back to writing always makes her happy. “I produced the first time with ‘Soorma’. It was a delight to see the idea take shape into a film.”
Working on some more films as a producer, she admits that it is way more strenuous than acting. “One has to be involved with multiple departments at the same time, and then there is fire-fighting. As an actor, you have everything laid out — go to the set, do you work and come home. As a producer, you need to be involved with the post-production aspect too.”
The actor, who co-hosted the recently held (online) Maruti Suzuki Arena Devils Circuit says that while she has been part of several live events, this was her first virtual obstacles race. “Fitness is very close to my heart and obstacle running is something I have seen from close quarters as a challenging and exciting format of running. It was wonderful being part of the event.”
For someone who was compared to Smita Patil for her striking resemblance to the late actor, Singh says that although she has been approached for a biopic on Patil by different people, nothing has materialised as yet. “If there was ever someone making it, I would love to play her. That would be probably be the best thing to ever happen to me as an actor,” she tells IANS.
With shooting over for ‘Bob Biswas’, in which she will be seen with Abhishek Bachchan which should release in the middle of next year, Singh is all set to start work on two other films. “One is a woman-centric theme helmed by a first-time director. I am quite excited about it.”
Even as several mainstream actors are becoming part of shows and films made for OTT platforms, Singh feels that digital is a great place to be in at this time. “People are telling fresh stories with newer perspectives. Although there have been offers, I am waiting for the right story and role to enter this space.”
–IANS
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