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The Das difference

Nandita Das on tasting success on her terms

DOWN-TO-EARTH Nandita Das

Last year was a happening one for actress-social activist Nandita Das. She shot for Jagmohan Mundhra's Provoked, made documentaries, was a narrator for Karadi Tales (a series of audio books for children), gave a series of lectures abroad and was part of the jury at Cannes.

Her `I'm different' streak showed up even when she travelled to France with just two suitcases (The organisers sent two limousines to ferry her and her baggage!). "To me, Cannes was all about honour, a responsibility. I have never been to a designer all my life and wearing designer clothes was secondary. There were people from different parts of the world, belonging to different age groups having different experiences. I was more excited about being there with such people than anything else." Nandita cherishes the fact that she got along well with all the jurors. Sarajevo-born director Emir Kusturica, president of the jury, said he had never seen such chemistry among the jurors. There were also moments when the jury differed and had animated discussions (including some by Nandita), prompting Kusturica to comment: "I thought you were a sweet little Indian girl ... you are a firecracker."

Talking about lending her voice for "The story of my experiments with truth: M. K. Gandhi", part of Karadi Tales' Charkha series, she says she treasures the experience. "I read the book many years ago, in college. In a way, I grew up with Gandhiji's philosophy," she says.

Being different comes easily to her, as she has never lived a typical movie star life, where people see you as larger than life and have certain expectations of you.

She is now shooting for Santosh Sivan's unnamed bilingual (English/Malayalam) set in the colonial period. The movie co-stars Rahul Bose and a British actor and is her first film with a cameraman-director. Then, there is Chitra Palekar's Marathi film based on Mahasweta Devi's work, starring Atul Kulkarni, and another film in Bengali by Suman Ghosh, co-starring Soumitra Chatterjee ("It's an honour to work with him").

Provoked has her in the role of a social worker and she signed it because it was Mundhra's film (she has done his Bawander) and to do her bit for a cause.

Leapfrog, the company she set up with her adman-husband Soumya Sen, has already done short films with a social message. Recently, the couple got 30 street children from India to travel to Pakistan and vice versa and held a 10-day workshop on prejudice perception. The perception the children had about the other country was shocking, she says. "After the workshop, that changed. The separation at the end of the trip was traumatic for all."

How has it been working with her husband? "It is a sharing of experiences." (He knows the power of communication and I have a background in this field.)

Nandita is also into writing blogs (www.intentblog.com — select Nandita Das from the list of contributors).

And, the responses they generate are to Nandita the person rather than the actor. "For me, they are a spontaneous way to share. I do feel the need to share my thoughts and feelings. You write, people respond, then you respond. It is dynamic. I did get tonnes of hate mail. When you are not anonymous, the baggage you carry is a lot more."

SUBHA J RAO

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