Arpita to play a woman in her 20s and 50s in film with Adil Hussain

Not so long back, his short film, The 6th Element, made it to the Short Film Corner at Cannes. And now, Arjun Dutta is all geared up for his big-screen debut. Titled Abyakto, the film is a poignant tale of a mother and son, played by Arpita and Anubhav Kanjilal. In a first, Arpita will be enacting two age groups of a character — in her late 20s and early 50s. The film also stars Adil Hussain, who is already winning laurels for his gutsy performances.
Giving us a peek into the storyline, Arjun said, “It’s about the unusual journey of Indra (Anubhav) from his childhood and adolescence to being a man. A series of unexplained events turn him into a man he never thought he would be. Indra’s mother, Sathi, his father, Kaushik, and his father’s friend, Rudra, are the driving force of the film, which captures the stirring and unexplainable situations and turmoil in the trio’s lives. The story explores love, regret, loneliness, sadness and search for identity through the principal characters.” Arjun added that even though working with Adil in his first feature film is a huge high, he had Arpita on his mind for the role of Sathi. “Not every actress can carry off two age groups,” he explained.

Arpita, who is looking forward to playing a woman in two distinct age groups, said the film has thrown an unusual challenge at her. “The flashback and the present are juxtaposed beautifully and it’s difficult to portray the different age groups at the same time. Sathi, my character, is a homemaker, whose world revolves around her son. She is the matriarch who runs the home, but shares an uncomfortable relationship with her husband. In her 20s, she was a classical singer, but gave up her prospective career for her family. There are many reasons why she is irritable,” said Arpita.
Even though Arjun is a newcomer in films, Arpita said she was thoroughly impressed by his earlier work. “There are other reasons why I gave my nod to the project. The character I play is very challenging and also, working with Adil will be an experience in itself. The script got me hooked from the start. Arjun is a die-hard fan of Rituda (Rituparno Ghosh) — I found a similarity in their thought process,” she said. While Anirban Ghosh plays Arpita’s husband in the film, Adil will be seen as Rudra, the family’s close friend. The cast also includes Kheya Chattopadhyay, Debjani Chatterjee, Lily Chakraborty, Pinky Banerjee and Samontak Maitra. Abyakto will hit the floors on May 20.