Tollywood actress Srabanti now wields boom to be a lady crime reporter

Srabanti, who sounds enthused to have a film entirely resting on her shoulders as the principal character, says she has drawn inspiration from the real life woman journos having seen in life as a celebrity though they are mostly from different beats.

"I have drawn references from the body language of reporters I regularly interact at film sets, events and elsewhere. How serious they look while listening to some quotes, how they translate my thoughts beautifully in the story but yes I had lesser exposure to crime or political beat reporters. For that I depended on the director's brief and my reading of the situation," Srabanti tells IBNS at a film event here. 

"And yes I derived lots of inspiration from characters like the one portrayed by Rani Mukherjee in ‘No One Killed Jessica’, ‘Mardaani’ which showed  spunky women characters not hesitating to take the plunge even at the face of physical torture or worse. This is the psyche of today's women," she says.

Paying tribute to the lives of journalists, Srabanti says, “They don’t have me-time, They have to be always alert to emerging situations even during breaks often causing heartburn in the family. This includes women journalists as well as they have to attend both family needs as well as professional commitments I know. I had often wished to portray their stress-full  lives and here it comes in a more realistic form.”

Srabanti, who rates Page 3 by Madhur Bhandarkar as one of her most favourite films, says while she had portrayed a print media journo’s role in Kanamachhi by Raj Chakroborty three years back, Sesh Sangbad is a more full-fledged role (though) not directly inspired by any real life crime investigation story.

“Yes as a citizen of this society I feel depressed, distressed on reading about certain inappropriate incidents which should not have occurred. I think why such incidents are happening!!! I wish such incidents did not take place. But such things will keep recurring in this world and in our lives. So I can only wish we move on the right track, I move on the right track,” she says.

Pinning her hopes on her upcoming masala movie Shikar, Srabonti sounds happy saying, “though I am better known as a commercial film star I do currently enjoying the switch-over from one genre to another at around the same phase.”

Director Pallav Gupta says "Srabonti had acted the scenes before me as we were discussing the scenes at a coffee shop which is unlike a heroine. And during one shooting schedule she had no qualms in giving five takes for a single shot one day as it went on and on."

"As I said I am more an actor than a star. I look at myself that way. I had probably picked up this value from Prosenjit Chatterjee who was my co-actor when I did a film with him in 1997 as an eight-year old. He had given me so much space despite age difference in my debut on big screen. You get as much respect as you give others," Srabonti says.

Pallav says his previous working experience in a national channel helped him flesh out the character of the journo and her lady boss (enacted by Mousumi Chatterjee) and he considers Barkha Dutt as one of the most dynamic female TV reporters but his female protagonist is not modeled on Barkha Dutt.

“Remember how Barkha had risked her life and safety issue while covering the Kargil war from a bunker for NDTV. Surely such acts of bravery worked in helming my character but in an indirect way.”

 Produced by Sky View Entertainment Sesh Sangbad will be released shortly.