Nawaz gave me lusty looks on sets

Bidita Bag, the lead actress of the recently released film ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’, is on cloud nine these days. The model-turned-actress is paired opposite Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The film has been directed by Kushan Nandy, written by Ghalib Asad Bhopali and produced by Kiran Shyam Shroff and Ashmith Kunder.

“This is the first time in the history of Indian cinema that an actress essayed the role of a “mochi” (cobbler). I feel that this role has been penned for me and I have given my best in the film,” she shares her excitement.

‘…Bandookbaaz’ is set in Uttar Pradesh and Bidita had to don a UP dialect for the film. About her accent, in the movie, she said, “I am a Bengali girl (laughs). And I came as a last moment replacement of Chitrangada Singh and I had no time for prep. But I am quite smart (laughs) and I took a smart decision. I called up our writer and recorded a few main dialogues of mine and practiced them.

Then when I landed in UP, I started to speak with local actors and Nawaz is also from that area so he helped me in the dialect. I tried my level best not to improvise the dialogues. I experimented with my expressions, body language et al, but never experimented with dialogues (laughs).”

Sharing her experience of working opposite Nawazuddin, she shares, “Although he is a star he does not have “star attitude” and is very grounded. I was trying to work with him for a couple of years but it did not happen. We have many common friends, so I share a good bond with him even prior to this film.”

“And throughout the shooting of ‘…Bandookbaaz’ he was in Babu’s character. Initially, I felt uncomfortable because he used to give me lusty looks and I wondered if he underwent a character change (laughs). Then I realised that he was in Babu’s character and then I also started being in Phulwa’s character and we used to flirt, etc, and had a good time on the sets. The scenes were shot well as the chemistry was amazing.”

The film has a lot of intimate scenes and in an interview, Nawazuddin said that it was because of Bidita he could do those steamy scenes. “What kind of preparation can one do for steamy scenes (laughs). However, one needs mental preparation not just for intimate shots but for every scene in the film. I did not put any extra effort for the scenes. I follow all the scenes closely and portray according to the character. And the mental frequency between me and Nawaz was good, so the shots came really well, effortlessly.”

Bidita hails from, Howrah, West Bengal. She graduated in Economics from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She is a trained classical singer. Bidita stated that her path to stardom was not an easy one as she faced a lot of flak for pursuing this career. “My journey was not at all easy. My biggest struggle was with my family as they never supported me.

Especially, my father; he was dead against my modelling and acting career. It took me 5-6 years to convince him. And after that, my struggle to get a role in a film in Bollywood started. I did a lot of Indie films, and the producers cannot release those films in a big way due to budget constraints. You do many films but hardly get recognized. I had a very bad patch of 3-4 years but that taught me to accept life how it comes and be thankful and grateful. I learned that one must stay happy in the bad phase and should see that you do not slip into depression. If you start practicing being happy, then it is not a difficult thing.”

Is casting couch a myth or reality? “Casting couch is a reality. However, I took the longer path (laughs) and it is always upon the person. It depends on you if you want to take a short cut or a longer path. And, it is not just in Bollywood - it is there in every profession. When it comes to the acting field, people tend to hype it up. This industry also has good people and they are very supportive. And people do not rape you in Bollywood, but they will try to play little mind game.

They try and are happy if they succeed (laughs). And if I don’t succumb, I will only lose a film or two, it is not like I will have to change my profession. I think actors are in much better position. In a corporate, people lose their job if they do not comply to these kinds of demands. Here (in Bollywood) if one loses a film then they will get another. A person has to be strong.”