Detective Byomkesh Bakshy Updates: IN CINEMAS NOW! - Page 58

I need chaos in my life

Her WhatsApp status reads: And thus I clothe my naked villainy and seem a saint, when most I play the devil.
Well, devil she is as Anguri Devi in Dibakar Banerjee's April 3 release Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!. With "butterflies" in her stomach, Swastika Mukherjee settles down to chat with t2 about playing a "deadly, mystery woman", about her men and the way she wants to lead her life. All this while sipping on watermelon juice at The Bridge in The Park.

Are the butterflies multiplying every day as the release of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! comes closer?

I'm enormously excited. The fact that I have played such an important role in Dibakar Banerjee's film, produced by Yash Raj Films, is not really sinking in! And what should I say about Anguri Devi? It's the most difficult role I've ever played. I have been working for 12 years and I think I have never portrayed such an intense character with so many shades.

Tell us about the first shot on the sets of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!. How did it go?

See, I was working with complete strangers and I had to speak my dialogues in Hindi and look picture perfect. Just getting ready every day would take three hours. I had chopped off my hair and the curling used to happen every day. For the 20 days of my shoot, I slept with 50 rollers on my head! I used to take a shower with the rollers on. I used to open it just before the shot. The curls had to be of the same size. It was a very tedious process.

It's very different from a Bengali film set. So much comfort is given to the actors. And during the shot there's pin-drop silence, unlike in Bengali films where the director has to shout silence' even after saying action'! So you immediately get into that zone. On the first day, my shot was to sit on a sofa with some papers in my hand. And while I was seated waiting for Dibakar to say action, my hands and knees were trembling. I thought I would faint!

And just imagine, my very first scene was a heated argument with Sushant Singh Rajput (who plays Byomkesh). I gave some three-four takes and then said Kato'! Actually the button of my blouse came off. In the scene Sushant had his hands on my shoulders and he was insisting that Anguri give him some information and my blouse tore! Sushant is so sweet, he kept saying sorry. Dibakar isn't someone who will leave you till he has extracted the best. I have never been pushed so much. Then there are the seducing-Byomkesh scenes, which we did on the first day. Byomkesh is on his toes with Anguri because she is so unpredictable.

Are there lots of seduction scenes?

Yes, that's what Anguri is all about. She is a seductress. She is always trying to play one against the other. She is one hell of a woman. She is sad, sorry, miserable, strong, vulnerable... You won't know who she actually is.

Is she like you?

No. I think actors have one or two common factors that they connect with the character they play, nothing beyond that. I am not like Anguri. I've never needed to seduce a guy. Guys are not that difficult to handle. Anguri had a lot of things going on in her mind. I am very lazy. I don't want to work so much on men! But yes, she is a little like me in the way that she is emotional and wants to have a home of her own, so in that way I could relate to her.

Tell us how you landed the role...

I had got a call and was asked to go for an audition. I had never given an audition, ever, and was reluctant. But when I heard it was for Dibakar Banerjee's film, I got excited. I went dressed like Anguri and after 12 takes they asked me to take my make-up off. I was very nervous and told them that I would come back the day after. I went back and gave 16 takes. Then the wait started. After six months they asked me to block my dates for the next four months. Then I met Dibakar and we spoke at length about Anguri. I travelled to Bombay thrice before the shoot. I had trial sessions and look tests, I went to Manish Malhotra's studio. The team had researched for two years, so you can imagine the amount of references they had. I was bowled over by the amount of homework Manish had done for the costumes. Everything was period correct. From the snake and fox rings that Anguri would wear to every little detail. They created a signature style for her. Even the rings speak of the dangerous, wild woman that she is. She lives with a hypnotising aura. She is never normal.

You are an inhibition-free actress. That certainly must have worked in your favour since your role demanded the performer to be comfortable with showing skin or doing intimate scenes...

Yes. When Dibakar chose me he must have figured that out. Like Anguri, I am never calm! I am very volatile. (Laughs) It helped because if I were a very calm, settled woman, if everything was happy in my life, I don't think I would have been able to portray Anguri Devi. She's deadly. She's like a snake... There's a bathtub scene which was shot over 11 hours in one day, and I was sitting in the bathtub in my birthday suit! That was very difficult because after a few hours my skin started to itch.

Any other sequence that was as challenging?

There's a scene where Anguri is intoxicated during a conversation with Byomkesh and we shot that on the second day. I had requested Dibakar if we could do it some other day. But then I realised every scene is difficult. Dibakar would always say, Tumi toh? Tumi bolei parbe'!

What did you learn and unlearn as an actress while working in the film?

I don't believe an actor can learn and unlearn a lot while playing a character. When you are working in an unknown territory you are bound to have new experiences, you will have an emotional turmoil while playing a character like Anguri Devi. That's what we actually mean when we say we learnt.

Dibakar pushed me till I told him that I didn't know any other way to emote in a scene! I learnt that a dialogue could be spoken in 10 different ways. And I also realised that if I hadn't experienced so much in my personal life, I couldn't have played Anguri. Playing Anguri Devi helped me grow as a person. I feel that I am an actress first and everything else comes second. So even when I am having a horrible fight with someone, the actress in me takes an upper hand. It comes to my mind immediately that I have to use this in a film. For me being an actress is like a 24x7 job.

A lot of people in Tollywood think that Swastika Mukherjee is deadly!

(Laughs out loud) If you don't have deadly experiences, you don't grow as a human being and for me I have to grow as an actor. My performance will be such that people will remember. I am that desperate when I am in front of the camera. Like now I have to go to the court on and off and I remind myself that I am going to use it somewhere. I will not let any experience go without putting it on screen. I don't forget the good things or the worst, and I don't forgive either. But I don't think I am deadly. I am very soft! (Laughs)

There were talks of Yash Raj Films banning you from all kinds of publicity. Has that been resolved?

I don't know. For them the film is much more important than messing around with people's personal lives. I heard that I was being banned from the Tollywood industry! (Laughs) It's okay. The censor board is banning the usage of certain words, so we are on a banning spree.

The past year has been quite a roller-coaster for you, from your relationship with Suman Mukhopadhyay to getting involved in one controversy after another. What comes to your mind when you look back?

All the years have been a roller-coaster for me! I think things have been blown out of proportion. A lot of things shouldn't have happened. People could have been less vindictive. But if I have chosen to be like this, then so be it. Once you've agreed to a certain kind of life, then you know these will happen and people will talk. But my life is actually not so happening.

Does all this make you depressed?

No. I only have depression attacks when my pets (Sheru, Chintamoni and Bhoda) are unwell. And I have sleep issues for which I see a doctor. But for these? Nooo!

In your case, what do you think causes a relationship to end?

I am chaotic and I need chaos in my life. There can be one million reasons (for a break-up). Everybody goes through break-ups. Relationship is a very heavy word and comes with a lot of responsibilities. People take it very casually these days. It may be impossible for a man to deal with an inhibition-free woman in the personal space. I will not compromise with my work for any man. It's not about my career, it's about the fact that if I am portraying a certain character I will go to any length the director wants me to. If my partner is asking me not to do it because it's going to affect my personal life, then I am not someone who will agree to that.  

How would you define the status of your relationship with Suman?

It can be any kind. It can be a person with whom you share your time or just talk about insecurity, jealousy, fear... With Suman, I can talk rubbish and I know I will not be judged. I can hop from one man to a hundred! May be I don't want to settle down. I just want to spend some good time with him. And may be after a point we both won't want to spend time with each other. May be the interest point is over or we are bored of each other. Ask me whether I wanted it to work out or not. May be I wasn't serious. Over time you realise you cannot live with a particular man anymore. I have that option of spending time with a man for six months and then move on for whatever reasons, even if everything is picture perfect. Everyone has the option of moving on for whatever reasons. It's no big deal!

Anything you'd want to change about yourself?

To be sober in the next t2 party!