Their job is to troll, my job is to try: Rukmini Maitra

Fresh on the heels of playing Bengal’s first female thespian Binodini, Rukmini Maitra has been cast in yet another period piece. The star is set to essay the role of Satyabati in the upcoming Byomkesh film, starring Dev in the role of the titular detective. We caught up with the model-turned-actress to talk about her new role, her take on negative feedback and her equation with reel-life and real-life partner Dev. Excerpts from the chat…

(Laughs)! Let the audience decide that…but jokes apart any artiste feels overwhelmed when people take their craft seriously. People just see me as an actor who has been in this industry for the past five years but I have been working here for almost 10 years as a model and have found recognition. However, in these five years, I have managed to make a mark as an actor where directors are taking my work seriously, rather I would say they are willing to put their faith in it. I don’t know whether it is a good phase in my career but of course, it is a good feeling. At the same time, this creates pressure as I have to meet the expectations of both my directors and the audience.

In all honesty, Satyabati was offered to me when I was shooting for the Binodini biopic. I forgot about it and Birsa (Dasgupta) suddenly came up to me and said, “I always wanted my Satyabati to be you.” I asked Birsa, “Why, why me?” I gained 16 kilos while I was playing Binodini. But to play Satyabati, I had to gain more weight as she is eight and a half months pregnant in the film.
No one has seen Satyabati like this before. For Binodini, my weight was 66 and now to play Satyabati I am 68 kilos! My biggest problem is that my metabolic rate is so high that I don’t gain weight easily so it was a challenge for me. Moreover, I lose weight when I’m working under stress so sustaining this weight throughout the shoot is a big challenge. That apart I have done acting workshops with Daminee Benny Basu to get into the nuances of the character. A woman who is eight and a half months pregnant has a different body language, so I had to get accustomed to all that.
What attracted you to Satyabati's character?
Satyabati’s intelligence attracted me to the character. To me, she is a beauty with brains. Her casual sense of intelligence makes her more beautiful. She has intuitive insight into things which Byomkesh misses at times. I liked how she helps Byomkesh discover things which eventually help him to solve the cases. She empowers Byomkesh which I feel makes Satyabati’s character meaningful.


I think trolling has become a trend, let’s accept that. I don’t pay any heed to it as controversy is a way to sell actors. No one can question my hard work so the best thing they can do is to talk about all this. Society has a tendency of dragging women down and not give them their due credit. It’s okay because my work will speak, my tickets are selling, people are paying to watch my films, directors are casting me and I am getting appreciation in the media for my acting — that’s what matters. My mother has taught me a simple thing: their job is to troll, my job is to try! I am trying my best every day to be better. After playing Binodini my perspective towards life has actually changed.

(Laughs) Dev said, “I know you will be good only! Emni emni ki bolechilam cinema koro!.” Dev always tells me that the best part about me is that I can easily mould myself into different looks and characters.


Dev and I work individually. We’re professionals and don’t bring our personal equations to work. However, with Dev around, somewhere at the back of my head there is a feeling that a superstar is on the sets and watching me! I am more comfortable working with Abir Chatterjee, Vidyut Jammwal or others. I feel if I make one mistake and Dev is going to scold me in front of everyone. For me, there are no advantages to working with Dev as I am nervous with him around.


Binodini is in post-production now. It took me a lot of time to get away from Binodini as it was so ingrained into my system. How I got out of Binodini is a bigger story than how I got into it. Dubbing for this film will be strenuous too. My director Ram Kamal (Mukherjee) will be flying down from Mumbai for this. Even Sudiptaa di (Chakraborty) will be there as well to help me out with the dubbing.