Busy Jaya wants a break…

Jaya Ahsan had to travel several states of India for more than a month. If she’s in Kolkata today, she would be in Goa tomorrow. She would be in Delhi the day after tomorrow and in Mumbai three days later!

She has been extremely busy for the last one month with film fests and the release of her latest film. Jaya’s latest film ‘Kadak Singh’ released on Indian OTT platform, JEE5 last 8 December.

A few days have passed since then. Following the release of Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s directorial venture, ‘Kadak Singh’, Jaya has been receiving loads of applaud.  She has stolen the hearts of movie lovers by playing the character, ‘Naina’.

In fact, director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury told Prothom Alo last Tuesday, “Many are asking me for Naina (Jaya Ahsan)’s phone number. They want to talk to her. As the director it has made me both happy and proud at the same time.”

Bangladeshi actress Jaya Ahsan started acting in Kolkata with the film ‘Aborto’ back in 2013. She has bagged one and a half dozen films in this one decade. She has always appeared with various versatile characters in each and every one of her films.

Apart from Bangla language films, she even received offers of Hindi language films at a point. Indian media outlet ‘Ananadabazar’ wrote that Jaya was exceptional in the character of Naina.    

Naina (Jaya Ahsan), who is being talked about so much, wants to get busy with some new character though. Earlier, she has appeared on screen in the roles of ‘Ranu’, ‘Bilkis Banu’, ‘Kusum’, ‘Ramila’ or ‘Annapurna Das’. Jaya excelled herself in each one of these characters.

She said, “The audience has liked the film a lot. So it will obviously occupy a special place in my heart. The reason behind is that I did this work going beyond my comfort zone that too in a different language, in a different country. That’s exactly why it’s special to me.”

‘Kadak Singh’ was screened at the 54th edition of International Film Festival of India in Goa. Jaya said that the film received standing ovation at the ending of the screening.

“People involved with films from different countries around the world attend this film festival. They have realised that the film has a different sort of merit in it. In fact they mentioned me especially. They even described the character of Naina as rain in the desert,” she said.

Jaya debuted in the Hindi film industry with the film ‘Kadak Singh’. Though the actress didn’t have prior expertise in Hindi language, she didn’t take any extra preparation for this. Jaya is taking her journey of acting in this film as a step towards gathering experiences.

She said, “I didn’t take much preparation. I tend to knit the character slowly. The way weavers build their nests, I too weave like them. But, when I go into shooting, I turn determined to do well.”

“But the Hindi language wasn’t at all familiar to me. I learnt it for some days just to get along. The amount of expertise I gathered, I needed only that much for the acting.”

“It didn’t require a completely pure and articulate Hindi dialect. Our assistant director Soumitra also helped. And I learnt from searching the Internet as well. I can now even read in Hindi. And I also try to speak fluently,” she continued.

Jaya had actors from Bollywood and South Indian film industry as her cofactors in the film ‘Kadak Singh’. The star-studded cast of the film includes Pankaj Tripathi, Sanjana Sanghi and Parvathy Thiruvothu. Jaya is amazed at their cordiality. She is still connected with them, she sad.

“They too treated me as a superstar of the Bangla film industry. They had immense respect for me. We all turned into a family while shooting the film. Usually when the shooting of a film ends, everyone goes their own separate ways. That’s the norm. Otherwise, it’s not even possible to continue with our lives,” she said.

“But, in my experience of working in this film I saw Parvathy crying on her last day of shooting. In fact she was whining about why the shoot ended so fast! Even Pankaj Tripathi, whose schedule is very hard to get, hilself said, ‘The shooting ended so fast. If only we could stay here for a few more days!’ Literally, I too had the same realisation. Because I cannot even describe with how much energy and fun we did the work.”

“Toni Da (Aniruddha) doesn’t even touch the script during the shooting. All the pre-production is done beforehand. He doesn’t put any pressure on anyone at the shooting floor. He has a very comfortable way of working. The way the head of the team moves, we follow.”

“Pankaj Tripathi’s wife adores me a lot. I still am connected with everyone. And Parvathy just loves me so much. I’m connected with everyone on Instagram,” she added.

Director of the film ‘Kadak Singh’, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury has finalised the plan of doing another film with Jaya. He even confirmed that news to Prothom Alo.

But, Jaya who spent more than a month in India for the time being wants to take a break for some days. She wants to spend a few days with herself. She wants to go someplace quiet and step on the earth and grass. She also talked about the winter delicacies like pitha made by her mother.

She said, “I want to visit somewhere a bit far away from Dhaka. Since it is winter I want to drink date juice and taste winter pitha. Usually my mother is so busy all the time. Yet I want to taste the pitha she makes.

“It’s the season for mustard flowers to bloom. I would travel towards the rural area because the village attracts me a lot. Staying abroad is unbearable now. That’s why I want to relax for a few days and then start working with new impetus,” she added.