Puja on doing a film with Dev: ‘If he asks me, I’m game’
The actor is playing a cabaret dancer in her new show
In 2012, Dev and Puja Banerjee starred in a hit Bengali movie, ‘Challenge 2’ and audiences still groove to the superhit songs like ‘Pyaar ka bukhar’ and ‘Police chorer preme poreche’. Their pair was once again appreciated in ‘Hoichoi Unlimited’ (2018), where Dev wore the producer’s hat.
Now, as Bengali cinema experiences a revival of masala entertainment, fans anticipate the return of this beloved pair. Puja, currently promoting ‘Cabaret’, expressed her desire to collaborate with Dev, now an established producer in the industry. When asked about a possible film together, Puja said, “Ask Dev. If he asks me, I’m in! We exchanged best wishes when I shared the ‘Cabaret’ trailer with him and we wish each other success in our respective projects. But there hasn’t been any discussion on any film yet.”
Puja, who has done a slew of commercial films in Bengali like ‘Rocky’, ‘Loveria’ and ‘Macho Mastana’, wants the genre to come back with full gusto. She is happy that several actors like Dev, Yash Dasguptaa and Ankush are trying to revive the genre. “I would love for that era to come back. There is still an audience for masala films if we offer good content,” said Puja, who will next be seen in director Raja Chanda’s film alongside Prosenjit Chatterjee.
Puja has been away from Bengali films and web series for a while. While she did judge the dance reality show ‘Dance Bangla Dance’, her fans missed seeing her portray impactful roles. This gap was filled when Utsav Mukherjee’s ‘Cabaret’ came her way. Playing the character of Elina, a cabaret dancer at ‘Moulin Rouge’, Puja embraced a women-centric subject once again, reminiscent of her role in the Bengali web series ‘Paap’.
The journey of a cabaret dancer has been captured on screen numerous times, be it in documentaries or films, the latest being a movie starring Richa Chadha. “I love dancing and the character of Elina had different shades, with her life going through ups and downs. This is the kind of character I want to do. Also, I have never attempted cabaret before and I wanted to move out of my comfort zone,” she said.
Talking about cabaret is incomplete without mentioning Miss Shefali or Arati Das, one of the most prominent cabaret dancers in Kolkata during the 1960s and 1970s. Did she look to her for inspiration? “I have taken references from everyone. Cabaret is a personalised style of dance and I have tried to develop my own style. I wanted it to keep it simple and not overdo it,” said the ‘Devon Ke Dev Mahadev’ actor.
