With a filmography reflecting strong, complex women who either challenge or simply stand out amid societal strictures, actress Priyanka Bose doesn’t toe the line, whether it was in Jugnuma or Gangor. In a chat with us, she talks about her decision to turn intimacy coach for actors in films shootings and change in feminine narrative in Indian films.

I love the feral anguish each one of us grapples with. I have ample space to introspect, but sometimes this space just expands because some questions still plague me, like getting to know myself or trying to find the psychological truth in personal or professional.

I’m dabbling with it. I feel directors are too vulnerable to communicate what they want in intimacy settings. It’s technical yes, but you need the actors relaxed and regulated. Coaches make the transition smoother or more sensitive, without much dialogue. I learnt what is appropriate (in intimate scenes) the hard way, now I want to teach.

Exactly, no one cared. We struggled, not only in comfort, but also with what the environment should be like. Good actors will do anything for that space. A good intimacy coach (and I’ve worked with really bad acting coaches), will never take the actor out of their body. A relaxed actor is someone who is guided by the control on their impulses and intimacy coaches make it go seamlessly.

Women narratives are in a beautiful space now. When I started out, I sounded a bit off tangent. Now I see more people inclined towards feminine narrative. The indie circuit needs more structural support and more resources for truthful stories.

I don’t know if it chose me or I chose it. Nothing will ever define me. No criticism, no delays, nothing will ever define me.

Chandraye Sarkar, one of the many women who accused Soumik Sen of sexual harassment, writes to Cheat India producer Atul Kasbekar to take action against the director
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; October 27, 2018)

After an actor of Cheat India anonymously named and shamed director Soumik Sen last week for his sexually exploitative behaviour, Ellipsis Entertainment - the production house backing the Emraan Hashmi starrer - issued a statement asserting that they had not received "any complaint of inappropriate behaviour by director Soumik Sen from any female member in our unit of Cheat India".

Now, media professional Chandraye Sarkar - one of the four women to have outed Sen - tells mid-day that she has appealed in writing to Cheat India producer Atul Kasbekar to take stringent action against him.

Sarkar says, "I don't understand why the producers are not taking the allegations seriously. Their statement is blasphemous and protects Soumik." In her account, Sarkar claimed that Sen sent her erotic passages in 2012, a post which she complained to Gulaab Gang co-producer Anubhav Sinha. Her story was corroborated by Sinha last week. "I was angry that Anubhav didn't act in time, but at least he said sorry now. Anubhav sent me a message saying he will never work with Soumik again. I respect him for the stand. Emraan Hashmi said he wants to clean the industry, then why is he hiding now? They are establishing that they are either accomplice to the matter or partaking in it."

She adds, "I have sent a mail to Ashoke Pandit and Balwinder Sandhu of IFTDA. I have written a mail to Atul Kasbekar and Tanuj Garg because they claim no complaint has come to them."

It has also been heard that after actor Priyanka Bose's revelations against Sen, the makers are considering corrective measures. An associate reveals, "We will have to let Soumik go from the promotional leg of the film. Emraan was clear that he wouldn't tolerate any instance of harassment against women on his film. He wouldn't want to keep his ties with the perpetrator in this case."

Hashmi, who is shooting in Ladakh, is yet to be updated on the matter. mid-day reached out to Kasbekar, who claimed he was travelling and couldn't respond.


Atul Kasbekar and Soumik Sen. Pic/Instagram

The actor joins Akshay Oberoi and Priyanka Bose in a Hindi screen adaptation of author Sunil Gangopadhyay’s novel
Shravan Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 31, 2018)

Author Sunil Gangopadhyay is a household name in Bengal. His novel, Phulmani Upakhyan, written in the late ’90s under the pen name of Neel Lohit, is being adapted into a Hindi feature film. Tentatively titled Phulamani, the love triangle will be directed by Bengali filmmaker Sourav Chakraborty and features Arjun Rampal, Akshay Oberoi and Priyanka Bose in the lead along with Neeraj Kabi and Victor Banerjee in supporting roles.

A source close to the development revealed that the story touches on themes relevant to our society and urges that talent be promoted and not suppressed. “In particular, it says that woman artists in India should get a platform for their talent and Priyanka was the first of the trio to come on board. Both Arjun and she play artists, he the famous one. Akshay spots her talent and brings her into the public eye,” adds the source.

Produced by Nilanjan Maitra, the film which will be shot in Jamshedpur will roll towards May-end. The makers are hoping to unveil it at the Berlin Film Festival next year prior to its theatrical release back home.

Sourav confirmed the news but said it was too soon to divulge details.

Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Priyanka Bose and Nicole Kidman at Lion’s premiere; (inset) Tannishtha Chaterjee, who also stars in the film

Lion, with a full-on desi cast, picks up four Golden Globe nominations ahead of the Oscars; actors ecstatic
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; December 14, 2016)

On Monday, the list of contenders for the 74th Golden Globe Awards was announced. The big surprise for Indians was the Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman-starrer, Lion, with a prominent line-up of Bollywood actors, bagging four nominations in top categories — Best Film, Best Score, Best Supporting Actor (Dev) and Best Supporting Actress (Nicole). Based on the memoir, A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley, the film is directed by Garth Davis and traces the story of a five-year-old boy, Saroo, who gets lost on a train. He survives alone in Kolkata, before being adopted by an Australian couple. He sets out to find his lost family 25 years later.

Dev, who plays the older Saroo, said, “I am humbled to be acknowledged in a category alongside these incredible gentlemen. I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for my real family back in London and in India, and for my ‘Lion’ family. My mom is going to be really happy.”

Many have attributed the film’s innocence to child-actor Sunny Pawar, who plays younger Saroo. Speaking from the US, he said, “I am elated that this was my first film and it got nominated.” Priyanka Bose, who plays Saroo’s mother, said, “It is truly deserved. Dev has delivered a stirring performance and proves how much he’s grown since Slumdog Millionaire (2008).”

Ask her if the vibe around the film is similar to that of the Oscar winner, and she adds, “Slumdog… and Lion take unique trajectories. But, I remember the excitement around it back then. We are all global actors and diversity is of utmost importance, more now than ever before. I feel fiercely patriotic.”

Tannishtha Chatterjee was surprised when we informed her about the nominations. “Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the film yet. The makers had invited me to the screening at the Toronto and London Film Festivals, but I couldn’t go. At the risk of sounding ambitious, the film may be nominated in the same categories at the Oscars too. When I read the script, I knew we were making something special. Garth is able to extract fine performances from his actors. I hope we bag all awards.”

Deepti Naval, who features as an orphanage caretaker, says, “It has created a buzz in the festival and awards circuit. The film leaves you choked.”

Aashta Atray Banan (MID-DAY; September 11, 2016)

"Maybe you need to tell me why there is this distinction between Indie and mainstream cinema. I can’t understand it. One gets slotted in one particular image and then that’s that. I am aching, to break out of this mould,” says actress Priyanka Bose, who meets us just before jetting off for the Toronto International Film Festival, where her latest movie, Lion, is going to be screened. We are eating salads on a cool evening at Versova’s popular hangout for the filmi type, Leaping Windows. And Bose seems excited as she talks about Lion, which has her playing Dev Patel’s mom. “Dev has just grown up so much since Slumdog,” says the actress in her early thirties, from Delhi. Lion, which is based on the book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley, tells the story of Saroo who was lost from his family at the age of five and adopted by an Australian family, and who finds his parents at the age of 25 using Google Earth. “I had read an article on this film a few years ago, and I had been like, someone should make a movie on this. I guess I put it out there in the universe and then, I auditioned and they loved it. It’s strange playing mother to Dev, but the story is told in flashbacks and dream sequences,” she says, adding, “When the character is so great, and the arc so fabulous, it doesn’t matter whose mother I have to play.”

It could be that attitude that has led to her doing some interesting roles in the past, marking her out to be an actress of note. She shot to fame with her role as a tribal woman in 2010’s Gangor, which was directed by Italian director Italo Spinelli. She toured the world with Nirbhaya, Yael Farber’s play based on the 2012 Delhi rape case, and film festival friendly movies like 2014’s Sold (about a brothel in Nepal), 2012’s Oass (about child prostitution) and 2013’s Oonga (about an adivasi boy’s obsession with becoming Rama). But the indie darling now wants to focus on doing all kinds of movies, even though her next two are also independent ones. “I don’t want to do movies where the characters are clichéd,” she says, adding, “Actually, I want more women directors and writers to make movies about women. Only then can we stop being wife, daughter, cook and could play the girl next door, who has a dark side.”

Priyanka also says that she grew up on Chitrahar and was a big fan of Sridevi. “I think I must be the only filmy person in my family. My parents are very simple people who wanted me to become a doctor. But now they have seen what I do, and are happy. I always wanted to be an actor.” Right now, along with waiting for Lion to hit screens in November and working on two other indie projects — “one is a psycho thriller, and another one is a really explicit one” — she wants to be as open to possibilities as she can. “I want to do as diverse roles as I can. I want to do mainstream movies… maybe comedy? I know I can do this. I have faith in me,” she signs off.

From coming out about being sexually abused as a child to being cast alongside Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara, actor Priyanka Bose is slowly but surely finding her niche
Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 11, 2016)

By the time this piece goes to press, Priyanka Bose would have lived her dream — attending the red carpet premiere of her film Lion at the Toronto International Film Festival. Apart from Bose, the film stars Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and Nicole Kidman and is based on Sairoo Brierley's autobiographical book, A Long Way Home. The film traces the story of a five-year-old who got separated from his family in Madhya Pradesh and, following a series of events, lands up in Hobart, Tasmania, when adopted by an Australian couple. "Sabyasachi is dressing me and I am very excited as I haven't seen the film myself," says Bose, as she settles down at a Yari Road coffee shop that she frequents. In the film, Bose plays Kamla, a rural woman who endured much after one of her sons goes missing; her sense of loss was what Bose imbibed. To internalise her character, Bose went to Madhya Pradesh to meet the mother her character was based on. "My questions were basic and just by meeting her, I could tell how hard her life has been. I got down on my knees and hugged her and thanked her for her courage," she says, adding, "She's the hero of her village now but a lot of people hate her for that. In fact, many called her crazy for years as she never gave up hope that her son would return one day." The book, she shares, was "Sairoo's one-dimensional testimonial" but the screenplay was "made up of fragments of everyone's frequency". So Kamla doesn't figure in the screenplay and is seen through the eyes of the protagonist, played by Dev Patel. But the co-star who Bose was particularly star-struck on being associated with was Nicole Kidman. "When I learnt Nicole Kidman is in it, I was blown. She's just incredible and my favourite films include The Hours and Eyes Wide Shut. Once Garth Davis [the director] actually told me that 'You and Nicole have the same kind of spirit' and I was like 'He just used me and Nicole in the same sentence'. I couldn't believe it."

But this isn't her first film to go international. She also played the lead in Italo Spinelli's Gangor (2010). Based on Mahasweta Devi's short story, Choli Ke Peeche, Gangor toured film festivals across the world and even screened at the Rome International Festival. "Unfortunately, we didn't have the right producers, which is why it never theatrically released in India," she rues. But working on it, she recalls, was "a truly liberating experience". "My audition scene was intense — my character was narrating the events that led to her rape. The director pushed me to internalise the sensuality of a tribal woman," she says of the film which was shot in Bengal and underlines the violence prevalent in tribal areas.

Born in Kolkata and raised in Delhi, Bose is "Bengali by birth and Punjabi by spirit". "Ever since college, I did dance shows — jazz, contemporary, modern, Manipuri and Kathakali and took up amateur theatre after graduating." Her first tryst with professional theatre was in Sanjoy Roy's Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan which was selected for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. "It opened my eyes to the world. My parents wanted me to pick a profession which guaranteed a secure life. But I am very rebellious and wanted to explore."

A one-way Delhi-Mumbai ticket was secured and Bose was in tinsel town to put her skills to test. "I wanted to do the kind of cinema I had experienced while growing up. Actresses like Smita Patil and Rekha — who didn't fit the mold but were poetic." But maximum city was yet to deliver on Bose's dreams. "I took up odd jobs like being a back-up dancer on stage, auditioned for tele-marketing shows. I did the odd advert but it didn't interest me," says Bose, who got her first break as a bit role in Dibakar Banerjee's cult film Love Sex Aur Dhokha. "I played the bitchy editor in the third story. If I were to do the same part now, my process would be different and way more severe." But Bose's most acclaimed performance was in the testimonial theatrical Nirbhaya, which is pertinent to Bose for personal reasons. "Nirbhaya happened in a cathartic way. I was holidaying in Kerala when the rape happened in Delhi. I was shaken by the incident and felt that fragments of me were scattered everywhere. I couldn't connect with the city. For the first time in 25 years, I broke my silence about being sexually abused as a child in the play, which also had women who had suffered similar realities. It was revolutionary theatre and that's why you make theatre — to tell the stories that no one wants to tell."

About Lion, she's positive, but also a tad nervous. "If you do one thing really well, it's a trap," she says pointing at how Nirbhaya's success became detrimental to her career. "When you do something so strong, people get scared and I wasn't getting cast for the things I wanted to do following the play. I also have a side which is soft and sensual and I can still play the girl-next-door. But even she has her secrets and a dark side," she says, sharing her childhood dream of playing Govinda's girlfriend in a movie.

What also turned Bose off about many filmmakers was their approach to casting female characters. "If someone tells me, 'Yeh tere dialogues hai, aake bolo', it doesn't work for me. When I wear the character, I need to know how the director envisions it and my process is only going to take it forward. If my character brief is, 'hot and sexy hai' or 'angry ya whatever hai' it won't work for me." Bose is however happy that the film industry has broken out of the shackles of nepotism but feels that female filmmakers urgently need to up their game. "I want to do hyper-genre films. India is experiencing filmmakers like Pawan Kumar (of Lucia fame) and stories like Paranoia. I want women directors to write better for women. We still think of the ghisa-pita archaic stories when it comes to women-centric films."

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 11, 2015)

Chandan Roy Sanyal is ready with a 27-minute short, 35 mm, inspired by one of his favourite films, the 1959 Kaagaz Ke Phool. There are plans to spin the beautiful love story inspired by Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman's reel life romance, into a full-length feature film.

"Neeraj Kabi plays a filmmaker named Guru and like in the original, falls in love with his protegee, played by Priyanka Bose. I have given the film my own twist," informs Chandan, admitting to being inspired by Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy and Raj Kapoor. "That was the golden era of Hindi cinema and our film is a homage to them."

The idea has been with him for a while but the logistics weren't working out. Then, one night, while enjoying a drink with his actor-friend Vikrant Massey he discussed the story with him and he agreed to produce it with Nivedita Basu. "It's a great script and I love good stories. So when Chandan shared it with me I instantly came on board," says Vikrant.

Chandan initially wanted to cast Adil Hussain and Raima Sen in the lead but due to date issues that didn't work out. "Then I approached Neeraj who loved the script. He had seen my earlier short, Hiroshima, and liked the way I narrated a story. We shot in Varanasi and Mumbai in July during the rains, he has done a fabulous job," beams the writer-director, who has already begun scripting the feature film and hopes to finish by January end. "Neeraj and Priyanka will star in that one too, and I want a score like those of Rajnigandha and Chhoti Si Baat."

Meanwhile, the short will do the festival rounds before releasing online late next year.