"I act in only those movies which I can relate to"

Actress, social activist and chairperson of the Children’s Film Society, Nandita Das makes multi-tasking seem easy. In the city to finalise details of the Film festival to be held in November, Nandita talks about how she juggles her passions and what keeps her going.


“If we love doing something, time will automatically expand. Initially, I had my doubts about whether I had too much on my plate, but things soon fell into place. The important thing is that I enjoy doing all the tasks that I take up. I want to do full justice to the role that the children’s film society has given me,” says Nandita.


On the acting front, the dusky beauty has been making international headlines with her stellar performance in Before the Rains, which is set in 1930’s Kerala, where she plays a village woman Sajni who has an affair with her British boss.

Ask her if only movies with sensitive, political overtones appeal to her and she says, “I began with social work and only then entered films. My background has certainly influenced my choices as an actor. My professional image and personal life are not very different. The script and my role in the film decide whether I sign up for a project or not.”


Will we never see the actress running around trees and romancing a hero in a commercial movie? “Love stories can be beautiful. It depends on the way they are packaged. I got many such film offers, but I never took them up. It is not a conscious effort to avoid such cinema, but an instinctive choice to do films that I relate to. I never grew up watching such love stories. However, I don’t categorise films into commercial or art. Every movie is commercial by default,” says the 30-films-old Nandita who has acted in 10 languages and wants to act in many more.


“I’d rather take up the challenge of working in a new language than do a film I don’t enjoy. Language has never been a barrier for me,” says the actress who bagged the Nandi Award for the best actress for her performance in Kamli.


It’s not just the movies, she has also been in the news for her recent divorce. “Since I’m in the public domain, my professional life is open to all, but I don’t enjoy talking about my personal life. Even when I got separated, I didn’t go about telling people about it, but I won’t hide anything from the public if I’m asked about it, she says candidly.