Paoli Dam excited about Suchitra Sen-inspired role in upcoming TV series ‘Mahanayak’

The character of Sucharita, inspired by actor Suchitra Sen, “is strong outside but vulnerable inside, someone who had come to the film world by design, someone who never flees from struggle,” Paoli said.

“I love evocative silence but here it is more verbose... mouthing one dialogue after another. This role drained me a lot. Four-five months I lived within the character,” she added.

The TV show to be aired from June 27 also stars Prosenjit Chatterjee.

Asked if his role is loosely based on Uttam Kumar, Prosenjit said, “The more I took part in the shooting, the greater I had an intimate knowledge about that time (60’s-’70s). As I enact certain incidents rumoured to have taken place in the protagonist’s life, I connect with them.” 

“I won’t use words like challenging to describe how I felt when I faced the camera as ‘Mahanayak’. It is a blessing for me.” Directed by Birsa Dasgupta, “Mahanaya” is conceptualized by Kamaleswar Mukherjee, director of “Meghe Dhaka Tara” and “Chander Pahar”. Paoli is also part of Mukherjee’s upcoming film where she is again paired with Prosenjit.

“It is a tale of love, lust and betrayal, it’s a dark love story which Bengal has never seen,” she said.

Apart from the TV series the actress is also working in Srijit Mukherjee’s “Zulfiqar”, Buddhadev Dasgupta’s “Tope”, Moinak Bhowmik’s “Chalachitro Circus” and documentary film maker 

Tathagata Banerjee’s “Mandobasar Golpo”. “I play an acclaimed woman director in ‘Mandobasar Golpo,’ who is making a film with a dark vision. My role has a bit troubled psyche and she is into medication. No reference has been drawn from any present day real life woman director, in Bengal or Mumbai,” she said.

Paoli has a lot of hopes from Suman Mukhopadhyay’s “Asamapto” as well. The movie is based on a story by Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay. “It talks about revisiting the old days. And Lalda (Suman Mukhopadhyay) has the unusual knack to define the emotional void in women 

characters. He is one of the few who can gauge a woman’s psyche,” she said.