Team Durga Sohay speak about women empowerment

There was hardly a second thought on the location when CT spoke to team Durga Sohay about a fun chat and photoshoot. “It has to be Ku martuli,“ director Arindam Sil had told us with a smile.And Kumartuli it was! As we were heading to the idol-mak ing hub with the filmmaker and his two leading ladies, Tonushree Chakraborty spotted a vendor selling jhal lozenge at a traffic signal. She promptly rolled down the window, summoned the vendor, and said, “Dosh takai du packet dao.“ Arindam promptly quipped, “Now, don't have too much of sweet stuff, okay...both of you are putting on weight.“
The other lady in the team, Sohini Sarkar, jumped up in defence. “Body shaming! Tonushree, protest,“ she exclaimed, before turning to the director, “And Arindamda, why don't you lose some weight first? A director needs to be fit and agile. We're absolutely fine, thank you.“
Arindam, however, was not one to take things sitting down, so pat came the reply . “The fan following I have with this paunch will make you go green with envy ,“ he said, adding that he finds people who comment on a woman's body disgusting. “A cleavage is to a woman what a beard is to a man... natural! Moreover, if a role demands a bold scene from an actress and she does it, people assume that she's the same in real life! Come on!“ Well, no wonder Arindam is a director. He had subtly changed the conversation's direction, and his actresses went with the flow! “Every time a girl steps out, she has to be conscious about her dress. She can't party late into the night because people start judging her. Why? It's high time we spoke about gender equality . We have legs, hands and brains just like a guy has,“ Sohini said, quickly warming up to the new subject.And Tonushree took the cue. “Yes, that mindset has to change! After Uro Chithi, where I had done a sensuous song in just a white shirt, I got offers for similar kind of roles.When I refused, the directors had the guts to ask me, `Keno, Uro Chithi te toh khulechho?' I simply ignore this kind of people. As for my weight (looking sideways at Arindam), I think both of us are fit,“ she said. We keeping losing or gaining weight to play spe cific characters. For ins tance, I had to lose weight to play Manasi in Durga Sohay. She's this perfect woman and a dream wife for any man! She's beauti ful, homely , compassionate, and has the power to bring out the best in people,“ Tonushree added.
The conversation had suddenly turned to Arindam's favourite sub ject. No wonder he was quick to catch on. “Exactly! That's what I tell people when they ask me if Durga Sohay is about nari shakti.
`It's about power...a woman's inner power and strength,' I tell them. The film is about realising that. There is this love-making scene in the film, where I've shown Tonushree on top.
The idea is to break stereotypical thi nking...Why can't a woman pull a man and kiss him? Moreover, Tonu shree and Sohini's names roll out before the men in the credits. The last time that happened was maybe when Suchitra Sen's name came before Uttam Kumar's,“ he said.
It was also our cue to ask him what the film was all about. “It's about a kind hearted homemaker, Manasi, who gives a woman, Durga, caught stealing in her house, a sec ond chance. She takes the luckless creature under her wings and tries to teach her the ways of a respectable life. Will Manasi be able to con vince her family and socie ty to accept Durga or will the latter give in to the temp tations offered by an affluent household and return to her old ways? You'll get to know the answer once the film releases, but it has a grand celebration of a bonedi barir (Basak family) Durga Puja. Then there's Bickram's (Ghosh) music. The way he has mixed dhaak with sitar and sarod is just fabulous,“ Arindam said with a smile.
Sohini, too, was upbeat about her role. “I'm thankful to Arindamda for casting me as Durga. I used to feel an inner power when I played this charac ter. It's given me the opportunity to show my acting skills, as I hardly get to play such strong characters,“ she said.
Tonushree, however, retorted. “Of course she's thankful! Director saab used to keep all the difficult scenes for me post lunch! Sohini played Durga without a hint of makeup and used to have a siesta while I slogged after lunch! She would tell me the nap was her touchup! No wonder I had to use all my inner strength to go through the shoot,“ she said with a smile.