Lifetime experience: Nussrat Jahan on attending Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant's wedding
Tollywood actress and former parliamentarian Nussrat Jahan earlier this week launched India's premiere event industry convention EEMAGINE 2024, which will be held in Kolkata from August 9 to 11, 2024. Speaking on the sidelines of the event, IBNS correspondent Souvik Ghosh speaks to Nussrat on the event, films and Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant's wedding which she attended...
Q. How do you see the growth of event management over the years?
A. I would call it a progression and growth. When I started my career, events used to happen back then but not many people knew about event management. Even before I joined the industry, big award functions used to happen in India. No event would have been conducted without any measures if there wasn't any event management company or an event manager handling it. So they have been a very integral part in shaping this industry to which I belong or come from. It's a big industry and it has started growing. The EEMA association is now big with 600 members as part of the association. I see it as a progression and a lot more business happening.
Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS
Q. Tell us about something which you feel Kolkata hasn't lost over the years.
A. It's the culture. We Bengalis hold the culture very close to our heart. Whichever part of the world we are in, Bengalis hold the culture close to them. It's our heritage. We should probably keep it so protected that it doesn't change in the near future also. I love the delectable cuisine. As Bengalis, we love food and that hasn't changed till date. We love our fish and sweets. We are foodies.
Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS
Q. You have been part of the grand wedding of Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant. How was that experience?
A. It's an experience of a lifetime. The world witnessed the biggest wedding and the social gathering where people from different parts of the globe joined to immerse into the celebrations and rejoice the union of Anant-bhai and Radhika. We were also a part of it. It was prestigious and sort of an honour and an opportunity to enjoy the entire festivity and celebrations that were happening there. I am glad that we got to enjoy that. It was so perfect. Everything exuded charm and it was more of putting up with our Indian culture.
Q. What kind of films do you want to be part of now?
A. I don't think my priority has changed. I have been learning for all these years. I think I am going to learn a lot in the near future. I never blocked myself thinking about featuring in a particular type of film. God has been very kind to me. I certainly picked up projects which I wanted to do rather than being forced upon me. I picked my project and knew exactly what I was doing.
Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS
Q. You and Yash (partner and Tollywood actor) made an effort to bring back the popular Bengali film culture with Sentimentaaal. Why do you think the audience is not responding positively to these kinds of films?
A. One has to make such projects and offer them to the audience. More commercial films should be made and served to the audience to actually let them enjoy. I think it's just that we are attempting an effort. I am sure others from the industry are also making efforts to bring back the era of commercial cinema. Commercial and urban cinemas should run parallely.
(Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)
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