“Adda” with Antara Banerjee!

• Hello! Mam. Good morning. I would like to thank you for giving us time from your work
schedule.
Antara- Good morning and that’s OK….

• How are you ma’am?
Antara- Am good…..

• So, ma’am you worked in many tv shows like Gumrah, Savdhaan India but you are loved as
“Pinky” of Badho Bahu the most. How do you feel about it?
Antara- I totally understand it. See the most important thing is that Pinky was the most loved
character of that show though it was a negative character but people loved her very much
because of her wittiness. It feels very good when you work so hard on a character and people
appreciate it. Lovely feeling.

• Is there any kind of similarity or difference between “Pinky” and “Antara”?
Antara- There is a lot of difference but yeah, Pinky used to be very much self obsessed which
Antara is also but Pinky’s character was always negative means she always felt that wherever she
is she must be always in the top position. She needs everything but am not like that in my real life.
(laughs)

• So you don’t think like her that you should also be in top position?
Antara- Yeah absolutely! She was obsessed with it means she could have done anything wrong to
become that, I don’t want success in a wrong way.

• So you are from Asansol and now you are working in Mumbai as an actress. Tell us something
about your journey?
Antara- I wanted to be an actor for sure. I am also a Kathak dancer and I learnt dancing for
twelve-thirteen years and the first thing I like is connecting the audience ‘isiliye jab bhi audience
jyada hota tha na’ then I used to get more energy and I always wanted to be an actor and it was
fixed when I was in class 6 or 7 but it was a long journey.

• Which one do you prefer the most “Acting” or “Dancing”?

Antara- Ahhh…if you say both then I love both but if anyone then precisely dancing.

• We have seen in your biography that you are an actor, a dancer and a singer. Is it so?
Antara- I am not a singer, actually I am just a bathroom singer. (laughs) ‘Saab ke gharon me hota
hai specially koi bhi agar bengali family se belong kare to hota hai.’ (laughs) The thing is I have
learnt singing but actually a kind of bathroom singer, am not a good singer.

• Who is your favourite singer?
Antara- I have too many in my list but ‘waise to’ whom I love the most is Shreya Ghoshal.

• Your present TV show is ‘Kasauti Zindagi Kay 2’. Earlier it was a hit and even now it is getting
good response. How do feel like working with the team?
Antara- The team is so much fun like they are the most energetic team I have worked with and
Balaji Telefilms, they work a lot. It’s not like that they work for 2hours or 3hours but for 14-15
hours so it feels like we are working always. Too much fun.

• In one of your interviews you said that “Akshay Kumar” is lucky for you. Why do you think
so?
Antara- Because when I start working in Bombay I got selected but I was not offered. I just got
selected for a role in his movie “Shaukeens”which was such a big project and also working with
Piyush ji, Anupam ji was really great.

• And then you played a role of journalist in a movie titled “Yeh Hai India”. How was your
experience to act in movies from TV shows?
Antara- Movies are too long means it takes a lot of time but TV shows are really very fast means
everybody is busy because of the telecast so we shoot it very fast but in movies you get very
much time to prepare but we shoot TV shows very very fast. Both are very different platforms.

• Who is your favourite bollywood star with whom would you like to work?
Antara- There are many but I would love to work with “Salman Khan”, not only him but there
are also other actors like Rajkumar Rao, Nawazuddin.

• Other than acting, dancing and singing what else do you love to do? Antara- Ahh… I love to
shop and I love listening to good music.

• Which is your favourite song?
Antara- Um! I don’t have a particular favourite song. My favourite song keeps on changing but I
have a selected playlist that I love listening.

• What are the efforts that you would give to work with Salman or Rajkumar?
Antara- Efforts? Ahh! All that is my full dedication and hard-work and also you have to keep
patience and passion both as well.

• We haven’t seen you in any Bengali movie or TV show. Why? Are you not interested in Bengali
movies or TV shows?
Antara- Of course, I would love to work in Bengali industry as I am a Bengali from Kolkata but till
now I haven’t got anything to work there which I would love doing but as soon as I get it I will
surely work.

• We have heard that Bengali people don’t get opportunities like others specially in places like
Mumbai or Delhi. Is it true?
Antara- No, I don’t agree to this because am a Bengali and people respect me here also even
while any shoot when they get to know that am a Bengali they respect me as per my experience.
There are many more other Bengali well known actors who work here. So, nothing like that, they
value it and am a proud Bengali.

• Is it true that Bengali people have to struggle more than others?
Antara- No, it is same for everybody. There is nothing such like that if I am a Bengali then I won’t
get a chance. Everybody has to struggle.

• What do you think about the Nepotism happening in bollywood the most?
Antara- There is Nepotism and we can’t help it but there are also many other actors who are not
from any film background but they are working good and also getting loved by the audience.
Nepotism is there and it will always be there but it’s changing a lot and even new comers are
also getting chance to show their talent.

• Thank you mam for this “Adda”. Would you like to say something for LaughaLaughi?
Antara- I would like to give my well wishes to the team.

 

By Prerna Pal Chowdhury.