She greets you with a sincere apologetic statement for getting delayed by 20 minutes. With pencil heels added to her 5 feet 8 inches frame, she looms larger than life. Add to it a certain grace that makes her even more personable.
Meet Archita, the bubbly actress, a familiar name in the State, who flatters the camera with as much ease as fielding questions shot at her with precision and frankness. Her debut in 2005 in ‘Oh My Love’ won her the Best Female New Comer Award. Box-office successes like ‘Babu I Love You’, ‘Sapanara Soudagara’, ‘To Pain Nebi Mu Sahe Janama’, ‘Akashe Ki Ranga Lagila’ - which were 100 days box office hits - only furthered her appeal. Though she has been in the industry for merely seven years, she has proved that she is here to stay.
The actress recently got her second State Award for Best Actress (2009) for her role in ‘Pagala Karichi Paunji Tora’, the first one being in 2006 under the same category for ‘Babu I Love U’. The State awards apart, she won several other awards for her acting skills almost every year since 2005.
Archita, also an engineering student from KIIT University, says she is proud to be considered a “romantic actress”. She explains, “Somehow, I have been offered romantic roles since the beginning of my career and I have been very comfortable with it. It does not mean that I am closed to working for any other character,” she says, flashing the girl-next-door smile.
Variety, Archita strongly believes, is the name of the game today. “Every time I am offered a role, I try to find out how challenging it can be for me. This helps me give my 100 per cent to the role,” she smiles.
Her latest release this year was Chocolate and she has a spate of movies in the offing. There’s ‘Kebe Tame Naha Kebe Mu Nahi’ with Sabyasachi that is slated for an October release. She will begin shooting for ‘Thookool’, directed by Prasanta Nanda, that portrays the life of an Odissi dancer - Preeti. She calls it a “challenging role” as at one part of the movie she has to enact the healing capacity of the dance form.
Expressing her desire to essay different roles, the actress says “acting just happened to her”. “I had won Miss Hot Shot Model 2005 when I was in Class 10. After this, offers for albums and movies started pouring in and director of ‘Oh My Love’ Sanjib Nayak said that he was making a film and wanted me to act in it. It took him several weeks to convince me and my parents,” reminisces she.
Besides acting, she wants to pursue MBA after her engineering and also join a software firm.
In Ollywood, the young actress aspires to work with the legendary Mahasweta Ray and she has also been getting plenty of offers from down south.
The actress prefers to take a nap or two whenever she gets time from studies and work. Apart from movies, Archita is the brand ambassador for UNICEF for the cause of child labour. She says, “I have a special place in my heart for children, who are in need. I am fortunate to be in a situation where I can make a difference to their lives.” She also works with Bhubanesar-based NGO Prerna on environmental causes.