“Nirbaak”: Sushmita's homecoming

Bollywood actress and former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen, who makes her debut in a Bengali movie which hits the screens today, says the film is a fulfillment of her father Shuber Sen's dream. 

 “It was my father's big dream that I do a Bengali film. It is a big moment for him,” said Sen a day ahead of commercial release of her maiden Bengali film “Nirbaak”, directed by Srijit Mukherjee. 

 The 39-year-old actress, who has starred in Hindi films like “No Problem”, “Main Hoon Na” and “Biwi No 1”, said her father always wanted her to act in Bengali films, something which never worked out for her.

 “He was ecstatic when he heard that. He had watched Srijit's films before and said he is a fantastic director and you must do his film,” she said.

 Although born to Bengali parents in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, the actress was worried about her command over the language while dubbing for “Nirbaak”. 

 “I was scared whether I would be able to express myself in Bengali. The director made me do the dubbing like I was a child doing poetry recitation. He said every word had to be said exactly like a true Bengali,” she said.

 Sen said two-three years ago, she was in talks with the late maverick Bengali film director Rituparno Ghosh for a Bengali movie.

 “We were discussing a film but he left us before that happened. That was a film I would have done for sure. I will regret that. As a human being and as a director, both, he was honest, my kind of a person,” the actress said.

 However, she is now discussing a project with another Bengali filmmaker Anjan Dutt.

Srijit Mukherjee says Sen has a perfect Bengali diction, “… perhaps better than many other Bengalis here”. 

 “Nirbaak” has four stories stringed together by Sen's character, who remains nameless.