If you want something for yourself, create it yourself: Theatre and film actor Ipshita Chakraborty
An alumna of the National School of Drama, Delhi girl Ipshita Chakraborty is steadily making a name in the film industry with films such as Bhonsle, Chapaak and Shakuntala Devi. The theatre and film actor made an impression in her new project Dvand, (meaning ‘the Internal conflict’) based on Shakespeare’s famous play Othello. Released on September 29 and helmed by Ishtiyak Khan, the movie features Sanjay Mishra in the lead, Khan himself and Vikram Kochhar alongside Chakraborty. The film is a humorous attempt at depicting the story of a man avenging his rejection and the dilemma that besieges all human beings in trying to identify the good from the bad.
“Just as Omkara wasn’t, Dvand is not only about Othello. At the core of our film is the story of a village. While Othello is a tragic play written by Shakespeare, Dvand is a comic take on the play,” the actor says.
“I play Naini, one of the important characters. She is the one who has a crisis and resolves it too,” Chakraborty says. The actress points out she was initially sceptical about taking up the role.
“Dvand is a theatrical piece. The theatre group Mukhatib had been performing it for years, and I had not seen it. So, I was completely unaware of the text. Everyone else had an idea of how it would be adapted for film. I was the last to join the crew, therefore, it took me some time to get on the same page as the others,” she adds.
The NSD-trained actor has over 35 plays under her belt. Some of her prominent works include Bandish, Viraasat, Mai Hun Yusuf Aur Yeh Hai Mera Bhai and Mathemagician. The Manohar Singh Smriti Puraskar for Acting and Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar are other feathers in her cap. She was also awarded the Tendulkar-Dubey Fellowship 2018-19.
About her journey from being a theatre person to navigating the film world, she says theatre is her home. “I’m still a theatre person at heart. I do a lot of theatre. And I believe whatever work I have got, or auditioned for, is because people have seen me on stage. I’m still new to the film world but I’m trying to make my place,” she says. Does she have a preferred medium? The actor says an actor’s job is to act regardless of the medium. “Theatre is my home. I was born there, as it were. However, I believe the stage selects its own actor and not vice-versa. I love acting, be it on stage or before the camera,” she explains.
From playing pivotal roles such as Sita in Bhonsle to Naini in Dvand and even a poignant character in the short film Cheepatakadumpa,
Chakraborty has been essaying roles of characters that are strong and have a voice. What is her process of selection? The actor says candidly that “Actually it is not very easy to select roles as such until you become somebody. But yes, I try to go for characters that matter to the story. If a particular character has the potential of being removed from a film, I don’t opt for those kinds of roles”.
The actor, however, considers herself lucky to have had the chance to explore women-centric characters in a few short films that she has done. “For instance, Cheepatakadumpa by Debashish Makhija, speaks of women’s sexuality and Wig by Atanu Mukherjee, which is about a very beautiful unsaid relationship,” she adds. Author-backed roles for women are rare for women, she says. “I feel there are no scripts written for women. Even if they are, the ratio is close to nil. If you want something for yourself, create it for yourself,” she says.
Chakraborty is inspired by her mentors in theatre such as Anuradha Kapur and Mohit Takalkar. She is now looking forward to her next film Sector 36. In the film directed by Aditya Nimbalkar, she will star opposite Deepak Dobriyal. What are her hopes for the future? “I have been doing theatre for the past 17 years. It is the place where I ‘churn’ myself. In films, I want to do good work and want to collaborate with good directors and projects. But for now, I haven’t planned anything for the future, it’s better to stay in the present. I just want to keep on working,” she says.