Mumbai, Maharashtra: In an exclusive interview with actress Amrita Bagchi opened up about her experience playing Alka Ahuja in 'Operation Safed Sagar', discussed courage, optimism, relationships and the emotional depth of her character. She reflected on her collaboration with co-star Siddharth, highlighting his egalitarian approach and commitment to serving the scene. Amrita Bagchi also spoke about working with Dia Mirza, her journey across acting, theatre, writing and filmmaking and the challenges of creating projects with limited resources. She shared her views on social media visibility, independent cinema, industry opportunities and OTT platforms. The actress also discusses her directorial experiences, creative philosophy, and the importance of clarity, collaboration and storytelling.
#AmritaBagchi #OperationSafedSagar #AlkaAhuja #exclusiveinterview #costarSiddharth #DiaMirza #OTTplatforms #directorialexperiences #storytelling #Trending #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #BollywoodHindiNews #ians
#AmritaBagchi #OperationSafedSagar #AlkaAhuja #exclusiveinterview #costarSiddharth #DiaMirza #OTTplatforms #directorialexperiences #storytelling #Trending #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #BollywoodHindiNews #ians
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FunTranscript
00:00First of all, welcome to INS.
00:02And ma'am, first of all, you will know that
00:06what was the reason for your meeting?
00:10The primary reason was that
00:11the casting director, Deepak Agarwal,
00:15I had an audition for him in 2019.
00:18He had an audition for him,
00:19so in 2024, he called me
00:21a direct matchbox office.
00:24And he had an audition in the office.
00:26And that's why I got a judge.
00:29Because I got selected.
00:31After seeing your personality,
00:35what was the most surprising aspect of your personality?
00:41Resilience.
00:42And I think that she was always a strong lady.
00:47After tragedy,
00:49she discovered her strength.
00:50She was still in a difficult time.
00:53But she was always there.
00:56The seed of a courageous woman was always there.
00:58So her optimism,
01:00lightness is that
01:01it doesn't get bitter after anything.
01:04It doesn't get bitter after anything.
01:05To not lose faith.
01:07To really go through life with a lot of lightness.
01:10That's what I like.
01:12I would like to incorporate it in my life.
01:16What have you done for her?
01:24Yes.
01:25And what you can do to incorporate?
01:40director Oni Sen and the creator Abhijit Parmar and Kushal Srivastav. Kushal Srivastav
01:46was in Indian Air Force during the time. Oni as a director, he guides the volume and tonality
01:55of your performance. After meeting Alka Ji, I set a base level to make an equal anchoring
02:06presence. After that, there was table readings with Siddharth and scene building. Siddharth
02:13is an equal person. I don't believe in equality. He is a very equal and generous co-actor.
02:23When we talked about it, we saw that we match, our wavelengths match. We talk about a collaborative
02:30process. It was an offset very good. Therefore, it was on-set and on-camera translated.
02:38There were some scenes in the social media, such as a farewell scene, where Alka
02:45wants to accept the truth. How was it challenging to play this emotional contradiction?
02:51How was it challenging to play it?
02:54Ajay Ji's farewell scene, Jabbu Shrinagar. Actually, I said before, it was very challenging.
03:01I thought that as an actor, I knew that he is not going to come back. But Alka Ji, as
03:06a character,
03:07did not know it. The intensity of it was a very ordinary way to do it. It was a bit
03:14challenging.
03:15So, I talked to the director and the creator of the director and the director. He said,
03:19I should do something like that. You know, like sand in your shoes, kind of a feeling.
03:23You can't tell. The scene was a little long time ago. He was cheering. He was watching a football.
03:28He was watching a girl's TV. He was cheering. He was cheering. He was expressing his anxiety.
03:34So, when he said, I was playing ordinarily. So, I was trying to do something.
03:39I was thinking of a back-of-the-mind thing.
03:41I was thinking about it. And after that, it was a plant, but I didn't know it.
03:46Before that, Siddhartha had a salute. And the moment he did that salute, it kind of fell into place.
03:52I understood that whatever ordinary, extraordinary,
03:55whatever I could do with the salute, when it gets placed in the edit, it will land.
04:01Siddhartha, the unexpected salute moment became very powerful.
04:05What was your instinctive reaction in that scene?
04:07In the scene, when he did it?
04:09Instinctively, actually, I honestly would say, as an actor, I felt relief.
04:15As Alka, I felt heartbreak.
04:18Because as an actor, I felt the scene that I was sitting there.
04:23The feeling that I was trying to catch my feelings automatically came.
04:28But as Alka, I felt it was a very heartbreaking thing.
04:33Because when you see a person's life, you see a person's life,
04:37you see a person's life, you see a person's life.
04:38In their life, their world, their partner, their home,
04:43which is the most precious thing, they give them to the people.
04:47They give them to their people.
04:50They give them to their people.
05:21They give them to their people.
05:22I really felt heartbreak.
05:25Dia is a very empathetic person.
05:37You will see her in her life, in her life, and in her life.
05:41She has a lot of empathy for everything.
05:44For the genre, for nature, for the prakriti, for her co-actor.
05:50She has a lot of empathy in her performance.
05:54Because when you sit with Dia,
05:59Dia is already involved in the scene.
06:04Actually, with Dia, it was just a matter of reacting to what she was doing.
06:10You said that they don't believe in the hierarchy.
06:14How do they affect the scene building?
06:17How do they affect the hierarchy?
06:19Because they don't believe in the hierarchy.
06:21That's why they don't keep up with yourself.
06:25Therefore, collaboration is very easy.
06:28Their priority is always in the scene.
06:30What are we achieving in this scene?
06:32What are we achieving in this scene?
06:32The story of which scene is elaborating?
06:36Why is this scene necessary?
06:38After understanding these things,
06:38after understanding these things,
06:39they are only prioritizing the scene.
06:43So all the improvisations are authentic.
06:46Because he is not putting himself at the center of attraction.
06:49He is putting you and the director and everyone else in the center of attraction.
06:54So, when I try something new,
06:57if he felt instantly that he could better the scene,
07:00or the rapper could better the scene,
07:02he would go to a different level.
07:06This is his specialty.
07:09You don't have a small role in the secondary.
07:12Does the character matter more than his emotions?
07:16Yes.
07:17But I think it matters the most,
07:19the character's role in the story of the character.
07:23If you have removed the character from the character from the story,
07:26then the story will still remain still?
07:28If the character will change,
07:30and the character will still remain the same,
07:33then the character will still play the character.
07:35I will only play the character from the character.
07:35Whether it's the character from 4 scenes or the character,
07:38or 20 scenes,
07:40the plot should be connected to the character.
07:43I do not have to give a decorative element.
07:48You have made the theater, acting, writing, directing, music,
07:59I don't know anything about this.
08:02I don't think anything about this.
08:03I think it's all external terms.
08:04Multi-disciplinary artist or actor.
08:08This is self-monologue.
08:10I was just like my parents.
08:14My parents were like me.
08:16I refer to this.
08:17These terminologies are available in the world.
08:24You call the film making different art forms, so in all the creative interests, what do you express yourself with
08:35the rest of the medium?
08:38Actually, in acting, you become a character. You react in the life circumstances.
08:46You react. When you are directing or writing, you have a lot of control.
08:52This character will happen, this character will happen, this character will happen.
08:56Then he will react and then he will do this.
08:58These things are a puppeteer.
09:02But as an actor, as an actor, you don't know how to live.
09:07You decide how the world will be.
09:09As an actor, you can enter into a world.
09:12You can enter into a costume.
09:14You have an economic class, a social class, gender, a different profession,
09:22which is very different from your world.
09:25After becoming a character, you learn new things.
09:29As a director, as a creator, you may not understand that much.
09:33You cannot capture the emotional maturity.
09:36So that is something that an actor's acting helps a lot.
09:40And in a larger way, the acting experience helps a lot in film making.
09:45Because when you experience a set, you follow the instructions of the director,
09:52which is this one that you create.
09:53You also understand how to direct the actors the actor to work.
09:58Where do you work on the set?
10:00And where do you work on the set?
10:02Where do you work on the set?
10:03What kind of democratic set-up?
10:05Equal set-up?
10:08I think we need to be able to make a control and achieve what we need to achieve.
10:17I have observed all the things I have seen as an actor.
10:21I try to implement the things I am going to do.
10:25During Covid, you made a succulent movie, and then you made a Tinktoria movie.
10:34How did you inspire your story-telling?
10:41Mostly, the credit goes to the team.
10:43I learned one thing, that if people take it right, then it will become a film.
10:48For me, both succulent and Tinktoria, which is my producer,
10:52Shannu Shaikh, Black Panther films,
10:55they have mounted my films like succulent,
10:59and the post-production, which was long-distance in Covid,
11:04the editor, the sound designer, the grading artist,
11:08the pull-off without a team is not possible.
11:13Because filmmaking is an art form,
11:16when you think about it, you need 100 people.
11:23As a writer, you can write yourself,
11:27you can write yourself, you can write yourself,
11:28you can paint yourself.
11:29But in filmmaking, you need 100 people.
11:33So, I think that when you have limited resources,
11:38you need unlimited time.
11:40And when you have limited time,
11:42you need unlimited resources.
11:44If both are limited,
11:46then you need to have the right people,
11:48which I got very lucky with.
11:50Okay.
11:51In today's entertainment industry,
11:53how important the talent and visibility are in this industry?
11:56Especially for those artists,
11:58who work in multiple disciplines in multiple disciplines?
12:02It's a lot of importance.
12:03I don't have to participate in social media.
12:08But now, I'm getting so much love,
12:11as a performer.
12:12And after making a film,
12:14I got so much love.
12:15Even if there are short films,
12:16I got a lot of reactions.
12:18I feel like the audience that I am watching,
12:20whether they are an actor or a storyteller,
12:23I think that is expected.
12:29Having said that,
12:30I don't want to do this much,
12:32simply because it's a very thin line,
12:35audience accessibility or vanity.
12:39The only thing is,
12:40where the audience accessibility is,
12:41where the interaction is,
12:42where the visibility is,
12:43is good.
12:44But if you cross a line,
12:46and keep yourself in the center,
12:48and keep my photo,
12:49and keep my story,
12:50then I will avoid that.
12:53Because as a storyteller,
12:54as an artist,
12:55it's weak to your work.
12:57So, I want to stop at a point,
12:59where this gives me visibility,
13:01audience access,
13:02I accept the love of people,
13:03and communicate with everyone.
13:05But I don't want to make a self-vanity project.
13:09I hope I am able to stop before that.
13:11Today's time is a social media,
13:13when we see that
13:14all actors are posting their posts.
13:18It's also like,
13:20as the first of all,
13:21artists are in their profile,
13:23and their pictures,
13:24and their producers.
13:26Now, social media is now,
13:27the audience profile,
13:29you have to take a lot of views,
13:30so,
13:31you also have to take a lot of social influences,
13:32and then you have to take a lot of social influences.
13:39So, I think the audience has been a lot of views,
13:40but acting is not good.
13:42But they have to take a lot of views,
13:44and they have to take a lot of views.
13:46Yes, that's been a lot of views.
13:49Film making has always been a numbers game.
13:53Where there is a audience involved.
13:55Whether it is a 100 audience,
13:57or a 100,000 audience,
13:58or a million audience.
14:00It's a numbers game,
14:01because you make a film,
14:02and people don't see it.
14:04It affects you.
14:05It affects you,
14:05whether you want to make it independently,
14:07whether you want to make it in an artistic way.
14:10So,
14:11this is what happens,
14:12and why people have to increase visibility,
14:15this is what I understand.
14:17So, I don't think,
14:18because of this,
14:19I don't think of bitterness from inside.
14:21But I genuinely feel,
14:22that there are very good actors,
14:25who don't get the opportunity for this.
14:27There are very big actors,
14:29who don't get the opportunity for this.
14:31So, I think,
14:32that there is a question,
14:33that there is a hope,
14:35that we don't have to be dependent on the visibility.
14:37We don't have to be dependent on the visibility.
14:41I would request to the audience,
14:43that there is a little interest
14:44in alternative cinema,
14:45or independent cinema.
14:47And I will say,
14:49that there are independent cinema,
14:50or theatre actors,
14:52who are contemporary art films,
14:54that there are also some interest.
14:57Because automatically,
14:58the actors will get visibility,
14:59and this will not be a problem.
15:00It will not be a problem.
15:01The problem is that,
15:02because our distribution system,
15:04is not equal.
15:06One film will get 100 screens,
15:09and one film will be very good,
15:11maybe an award-winning film,
15:12and you will give a slot for one week.
15:15That is not fair.
15:17So, for visibility,
15:18let's not blame social media or the influences.
15:20We have to blame the distribution system.
15:24What is the most important thing about Tinktori's process?
15:32Clarity and focus.
15:34Because we had a lot of time,
15:35and I had some ambitious things written.
15:39And basically,
15:41within a month,
15:42our writing,
15:43pre-production and shoot,
15:45in one month.
15:46And in six weeks,
15:47we had to give a first cut.
15:48So,
15:49in that,
15:50I wanted to write elaborately things.
15:54Vikram really taught me focus.
15:56He understood me
15:57that,
15:58in short film,
15:59there should be a single thread
16:00and run away.
16:02The narrative,
16:03one strand,
16:04focus.
16:06What is the fat
16:07and what is the muscle?
16:08How do we separate?
16:10And clarity of thought.
16:12While you are putting it on paper,
16:13and ask yourself,
16:14why am I saying this story?
16:16Why am I saying this story?
16:17Who is the main character of my story?
16:19And if the rest of my story
16:21will not be attached to that story.
16:24Kill your darlings.
16:25So,
16:26I learned those three things from Vikram.
16:27Apart from the fact,
16:29that it is so valuable,
16:30and so prolific,
16:32that in the past ten years,
16:33you have to watch his filmography,
16:35and his shows,
16:36the number of films and shows he has done,
16:38is unmatched.
16:39And it is a different style.
16:40It is a different style.
16:41It is a different approach.
16:42and they have done it.
16:43I would like to learn it from him.
16:46I am going to learn that from him.
16:46I would like to learn that from him.
16:46If you have heard about the upcoming videos,
16:48that the rules,
16:49how to not have sex,
16:50are many different genres.
16:52So,
16:53do you choose to choose unconsciously
16:54un-conventional stories?
16:59Yes and no.
17:00I mean,
17:00the attraction is for unconventional stories.
17:03Because,
17:03I always don't know them sometimes.
17:06And because of unconventional storytelling
17:07or independent filmmaking,
17:09you are a very interesting mind.
17:11How to not have sex? In fact, a mainstream American film is a tape that Richard Linklater
17:16had made in early 2000s. It's an Indian adaptation. So, it's an adaptation and then, you know,
17:22the Indian filmmaker, Sudarshan, the writer, Anshulika, producer, Akash and Anshulika,
17:26they wanted to bring a new narrative about consent. And in India, they can see sexual
17:32consent and patriarchy. So, of course, it was a very necessary story. Rooj, also Himadri Parmar,
17:39an independent Gujarati director. Rooj was her second film. She had made Abharqa before her.
17:45And I think her artistic vision was very good. I enjoyed it with the exhibition. So,
17:51this is a conscious of why I'm saying yes. But the second thing is that when you're
17:56an independent artist, it's been 10-12 years in the industry as an actor for me. Again,
18:03it's a distribution of visibility and non-visibility because of your projects.
18:09So, you have to choose what works. Because I'm writing or directing, I have a backup option.
18:18I don't have to do bills for acting now. But if I had to do it, then maybe my decisions
18:24are
18:25different. But having said that, independent cinema is very exciting right now. Regional cinema is very
18:32exciting right now. And I hope that Darshak will also look at that film and see it.
18:38You've been in your career in the theatre, independent cinema, mainstream mobility,
18:41you've been in your career. So, what kind of video did you have in the actor's shape?
18:45So, what kind of video did you have in your career as an actor as an actor?
18:51Because I don't have formal training as an actor. I have kind of learned on the job. Because I've
18:56learned on the job, there are a lot of things that I'm learning every day. But in the stage,
19:03your skill set has to be very high. Because in the film, you have a chance to take one more
19:06take.
19:07But in the stage, you go to the stage, you can't take the show. You can't take the show in
19:13the
19:1315 minutes. I know that the show is good or bad. The physicality, volume, projection, presence
19:20is very sharp. I feel a bit challenging. I don't think I have really achieved what I need
19:29to achieve on stage.