Shahana Goswami, who plays the wife of Manoj Bajpayee in Despatch, says acting with Bajpayee, and director Kanu Behl was rewarding
Shahana Goswami is a woman with many interests. Acting is her true calling, and so are writing and directing, something that she has dreamt of doing since her childhood, which she believes will happen in due time… If Covid had people finding it difficult to pass time, Shahana wanted extra four hours to do all that she wished to do!
We catch her during Despatch promotions and get to know more about her love for cinema, and travel.
But before we get there, it’s Despatch, the film that’s due to release on December 13 on ZEE5. Working with director Kanu Behl was on her to-do list, and to act opposite Manoj Bajpayee was icing on the cake. Yet, it was a small part and that made Shahana hesitant. “I don’t have a problem with small parts, but when you have Kanu and Manoj on board, one gets greedy and wants more,” says the Rock On!! actress.
On the hindsight, she is glad that she took up the opportunity. “I consider Despatch an appetiser,” she laughs. Playing Shweta Bag, wife of Manoj Bajpayee, came with emotional heft. The couple is in the dying stage of their marriage and gives it one last try to sale it. While real Shahana is pretty different from the character she plays here, she relates to the sinking feeling that comes with a doomed relationship. “We all have been through that feeling of hopelessness, and despair that comes with it. That bit was relatable.” However, it was her character Meenakshi Chatterji in The Suitable Boy that stands out for her. “As an actor you take on many characters but playing Meenakshi Chatterji, so very different from the real me, was a revelation.”
Though women directors in the industry can be counted on the fingertips, Shahana has interestingly worked with more women directors than men. The list includes Deepa Mehta, Reema Kagti, Mira Nair, Shimit Amin, Nandita Das, Alankrita Shrivastava, Bornila Chatterjee, Tanuja Chandra and Anu Menon among others. “I know it’s an anomaly, but I take pride in working with many women South-Asian directors. Lately, there has been a push in this direction,” says Shahana, who believes one is likely to see many women taking up prominent roles in the film industry in coming times.
Among many things that she loves, attending film festivals is one of them. “As a cinema lover, I love to watch films that seldom see theatrical release. As an actor too, I bond with people, who enthusiastically come to film festivals to appreciate a certain director’s or actor’s work.” Shahana, who attended Dharamshala International Film Festival and International Film Festival of India recently, says independent filmmaking is a courageous job and film festivals are the place to celebrate that. Most festivals have a distribution network that can help films see a release as well. “I have done about 35 films and about half of them had a festival round or not released at least in India though they were released overseas. Not just the actor but the cine buff in me loves these festivals!”
She loves to travel to meet people and explore paces. “I travel so much that being in Mumbai is like a vacation for me,” she says.
Having started when films were shot on reels, just before the advent of the digital era, Shahana believes that OTT has been the real game-changer. “Now that there is an audience for all sorts of stories, one can experiment with the story telling, which is wonderful,” she signs off.
