Detective Byomkesh Bakshy Updates: IN CINEMAS NOW! - Page 78

A debut with India's largest production company, Yash Raj Films, and with one of the country's leading directors, Dibakar Banerjee, is a two-fold feat not achieved by many. But 26-year-old Divya Menon, who studied fashion design at NIFT and has since worked as an assistant designer and model with Sabyasachi Mukherjee, is well-versed with dual roles.

Banerjee is all praise for her performance in his latest movie Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! which releases across India tomorrow. In the movie, set in 1940s Kolkata, Menon plays a young aristocrat called Satyavati. "Divya has what very few debutantes have...an absolute presence and a completely natural performance. You can't ignore her for a moment even while she's sharing the screen with top stars. Her elegance and poise form a very attractive contrast with her innocence; exactly the Satyavati I wanted," says Banerjee.

When we met in Mumbai, in what turns out to be her first ever interview, here's what theDetective Byomkesh Bakshy! actress had to say about her shift from fashion to films.

Divya Menon plays one of the lead actresses in Dibaker Banerjee's Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!

Tell us how you landed the role of Satyavati.

I had been working as an assistant designer for Sabyasachi for around a year, and I'd also modelled for some of his campaigns. This was around 2013, I was on a sick leave actually, when I got a call from him saying, "Are you interested in doing a movie? I have a director sitting in front of me, have you heard of Dibakar Banerjee?" Of course I had! All too soon, he was handing over the phone to Dibakar, and that was the first time I spoke with him. I remember my heart was beating so fast; I thought it was an early April fool's joke.

Was this your first time in front of the camera?

Yes, it was. I went in for the audition an hour after Sabya's call and it was my first time in front of a professional video camera. I have modelled for Sabya before but those are still images; you don't really have to express yourself, in fact you have to be less emotive. My first audition was horrible; I thought I screwed it. I went home and told my mother that I don't think I'm going to get it. A couple of days later, I got a call telling me I had been shortlisted.

Tell us a little more about your character in the movie.

Satyavati comes from an aristocratic family and her uncle is a very influential politician. She's very level headed, rational, and intelligent and knows when to speak up and when to keep quiet. She's very proud and protective of her family. She can say whatever she wants about them, but if an outsider does so, they're in trouble.

Have you been modelling for a very long time?

Only for Sabya. In fact, he spotted me. That's the thing about him, he finds people; and when he puts them in places, they always seem to work.

As Satyavati, in a still from the film. 

What was it like working with Sushant Singh Rajput?

He's very intelligent. On one of the last days of the shoot, he sat with a pen and paper and started to describe how time travel would work if it could happen, the time warp and everything.

What is Dibakar Banerjee's style as a director?

Everytime I asked Dibakar what he thought about my performance, all he told me was, "Time will tell, people will decide, who am I to say anything". That's the sort of framework he works in; he doesn't judge his own work.

What sort of a relationship does Satyavati share with the film's eponymous lead, Byomkesh Bakshy (Sushant Singh Rajput)?

Satyavati is very protective of her family and what people might say about them, and Byomkesh is a cold-hearted and blunt character, who speaks his mind, so they clash. But he needs her cooperation and she needs his help, so they eventually get on the same page.

Did you go through a lot of training?
I got one month of training. For a non-actor, they crammed all the lessons in that one month. I was traumatized, I was happy, I was sad, all at the same time. It was as crazy as it could possibly get. I'm a very sentimental person. I cry for every little thing. Apparently, it works in the industry if you can cry at the snap of a finger. In fact, Dibakar is totally against the use of glycerin...so it all worked out well.

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! releases this Friday, April 3.

http://www.vogue.in/content/sabyasachis-assistant-designer-makes-her-film-debut-detective-byomkesh-bakshy