Bollywood’s Plabita Borthakur talks about her journey in an interaction with Ankita Kakaty
By Ankita Kakaty | SHILLONG | SEPT 04, 2020:
From the dreamy town of Assam's Duliajan to the tinsel town of Bollywood, Plabita Borthakur always had a creative mind. Her father Probin Borthakur is an Indian classical singer, academician and a former serviceman under Oil India Limited in Duliajanher. Her mother, Rina Borthakur, is a writer and poet.
Her elder sister Parineeta Borthakur is a well-known television personality and her other sister Priyangi Borthakur is a singer and entrepreneur (O'Tenga).
Plabita completed her schooling from DPS Duliajan, after which she enrolled herself in Jai Hind College, Mumbai. She expressed an interest in performing arts and later enrolled in an acting course to chase her dreams of becoming an actor. Eventually, she joined Barry John Acting School, where she completed a short-term diploma course.
Plabita believes that Mumbai is the city of dreams and also a city of struggles. But being a rebel, she took up life's challenges and began her journey by auditioning for films and television commercials.
Opportunities later came her way, and she was a part of many films and web projects like P.K., Lipstick under My Burkha, Doosra, Breathe into the Shadows and Bombay Begums.
In 2012, Plabita appeared in several television commercials and did over 20 to 25 advertisements till date.
Her inclination towards western music also led her to form her band under the name 'Manu and Chow'.
Plabita's first appearance on the big screen was in the 2014 film P.K. directed by Rajkumar Hirani.
She marched ahead in her journey to fame and was chosen as a lead in the critically acclaimed film Lipstick Under My Burkha directed by Alankrita Srivastava, where she played the character of Rehana Abidi.
Plabita said that working with such a dynamic female-driven ensemble cast comprising actors such as Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma, Aahana Kumra, Sushant Singh and Vikrant Massey was an overwhelming experience for her.
She believes that as technology gradually shifted its gears to a wider reach in terms of audience and viewers, the webspace or OTT platforms in India began gaining momentum with the proliferation of new media and streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Zee 5 and Voot to name a few.
To try her hand at this new medium of the public interface, Plabita entered the digital space.
Her first digital debut was in a web series Parchayee on Zee5. She also landed the part of Meghna Verma in the crime drama thriller web series Breathe into the shadows directed by Mayank Sharma starring Abhishek Bachchan, Amit Sadh, Nitya Menon as the central characters. It premiered on Amazon Prime on July 10, 2020.
Plabita opines that her character was a very challenging one to play.
Meghna's character is pragmatically cheerful and fun-loving who lives life with a sense of courage and freedom standing on her capabilities.
"The character of Meghna was very much similar to me. While shooting and prepping for the role, the director instructed me not to use my left hand. So, I was left to feel the vibe of the character and prepare intensely for my role. But overall, the learning experience was a pleasant one," Plabita said.
After working with a meticulous set of actors such as Abhishek Bachchan and Amit Sadh Plabita spoke about some of her memories from the sets.
"It was great working with both the actors. Abhishek was very disciplined and focused as an actor yet he is funny and shares a good camaraderie on the sets while Amit Sadh improvises a lot and adds his nuances to his character which makes out the scenes very organic as I too love improvising which adds to make an enriching performance," Plabita said.
"One of my most fun shoot days was the day I was doing a stunt sequence where I would have to fall off a building with the help of a harness and I did the shot in just one take and the moment the scene was done I was too excited and wanted to do more of it. Another memorable moment was one scene where Amit Sadh and I were sitting at a chat corner and we both did not act in that scene but went with the flow of enjoying our food, which was very candid and organic," she added.
Plabita auditioned for the role of Meghna through Mukesh Chhabra casting agency and fit in perfectly to the character which both viewers and critics appreciated.
We may note that survival of the fittest is predominant in showbiz, and nepotism is a hurdle to emerging talent.
Plabita believes that nepotism is pervasive to all professions more or less of similar interests and background. The only thing is to retain and work hard to secure one's spot for acceptance and appraisal in his or her art/profession.
Plabita is of the view that versatility is the key strength of any artist and as it is very clear from her diverse roles which she portrays on screen.
Plabita also appears in Bombay Begums, a Netflix original series directed by Alakrita Srivastava and Bornila Chatterjee where she shares screen time with Pooja Bhatt, Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash, Aadhya Anand among the central characters.
It is an inspiring story of five women across generations and their struggles, desires, ethics and vulnerabilities to their ambitions in a contemporary urban India.
Some of her upcoming releases include Doosra – a feature film directed by Abhinay Deo.
It is a story of how cricket changed India through the eyes of a young girl played by Plabita.
Another upcoming release is Chhote Nawab, a movie directed by Kumud Chaudhary featuring Akshay Oberoi and Plabita as leads.
Plabita is optimistic of the fact that web content in India has driven people to select quality over quantity as she feels that it is a ray of hope for the struggling artist who juggles to fit into the contemporary world of art and cinema.
She believes that having faith in oneself and working hard on one's ambition can work as a positive aspect for an artist to grow and survive.
"Most importantly, celebrating failures with an open heart gives room for new thoughts and can make oneself a better person," she said.
A woman with a truly lively personality, we wish her success in all her future endeavours.
(The writer of this article can be reached at ankitakakaty@gmail.com)
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