Love Marriage: Ankush-Oindrila speak on their troubled onscreen romance amid real life wedding buzz

Q (to both): When buzz is about your real life love marriage, tell us about your experience of doing the same in the film?

Ankush: It was a very nice experience. In fact when I heard the script from Chaki-da (Premendu Bikash Chaki, director) for the first time, I felt it would be very entertaining in its own right. We (Ankush and Oindrila) decided to do this film because we liked it at the moment of hearing it.

Oindrila: It was the same for me. I have known Chaki-da since childhood days and we have been discussing a probable film for a long time. Both of us went to listen to the narration together which actually helped in arriving at a decision.

Q (to both): Going by its title, can we call Love Marriage a complete love story?

Oindrila: More than a love story, Love Marriage is a film about relationships and bondings. Our characters are troubled in their love story due to their parents.

Q (to Ankush): So can we say the reel love story was tougher than the real one?

Ankush: Obviously. It would be a tragedy if similar incidents occur in someone's life. But the tragedy has been portrayed in a humorous way to entertain the audience. The situations in the film have been humorous and not a forced comedy.

Q (to both): The promotional tours of the film are also very interesting!

Ankush: Yes, we have been travelling in a love marriage car during promotions.

Oindrila: People were able to recognise us when we were travelling in the car. Ankush wanted our film to reach the wider audience.

Q (to both): So this film is again about content which is dominating now in the film industry?

Oindrila: This film is not about the hero and heroine but it is about a story, relationships and every character.

Ankush: Absolutely. It's important too to relate to the characters as well.

Q (to both): How much could you two relate to the respective characters?

Oindrila: I could relate to the mother-daughter bonding in the film. The same bonding I share with my mother in real life. Much like in the film, my bonding with Ankush also started with friendship which slowly grew into love.

Ankush: I could relate to the humble beginning and responsibilities of my character. My character has a lot of middle class elements which are very relatable.

Q (to Ankush): How crucial role do your inputs for each other play in enriching the individual craft?

Ankush: It helps a lot. It is very important to have a genuine critic. Actually parents always love their son or daughter's works. Since both of us had no film background, our parents love anything we do onscreen. An actor needs an opinion from someone who is aware of the field. For me, it's Oindrila. Feedbacks from industry mates are not helpful because they are not genuine mostly.

Oindrila: Apart from Ankush, my cousin brother also helps a lot.

Q (to both): Both of you have been part of very serious projects (Ankush in Shikarpur and Oindrila in Shwetkali) recently. How do you assess yourself post these works?

Ankush: Obviously a new avenue has opened since OTT has given me the opportunity to portray such an in-depth character. Thankfully both of us have got these opportunities to showcase our matured performances. Generally filmmakers are reluctant to rope me in for serious characters. I am thankful to the Shikarpur director and producer for giving me this opportunity and believing in me.

Oindrila: Since I have done television for a long time, I wanted to be a part of an OTT project which will revolve around me. I felt the same with my character Urvi, who is very mature. I had given everything to this character. I have never expected such an overwhelming response.

Q (to both): Your fans are eagerly waiting for you to tie the nuptial knot. Any update about that?

Ankush: We had made promises earlier but couldn't fulfill them. We will now give a final update once our marriage date is confirmed. Otherwise people would think we are lying to them (laughs).

Oindrila: Actually we are not getting any break owing to work. So we have decided to fix the date and announce it only when it is confirmed.

(Photography: Avishek Mitra/IBNS)