Last year, her dare-bare act for the movie Hate Story was much talked about. Paoli Dam single-handedly managed to create the right buzz for the film. The sultry actress, after being away from the limelight for a while, is back with a new image — a de-glam avatar — that of a Bengali lawyer in Vikram Bhatt’s upcoming Ankur Arora Murder Case.
The actress, who is happy to do different roles, says she wasn’t away, she was just completing all the Bengali projects that she had in her hand. Her character in this film is nothing close to what she did in Hate Story. It is the role of a lawyer, who is fighting for the cause of medical negligence in the film that is based on a real-life story. “The cause is something that I feel for as I have seen someone close suffer because of medical negligence,” says the actress.
She says that we need more films on issues that concern the society. “A lot of understanding and research goes in to making such films. I was really happy when I was considered for this role. Vikram has offered me two roles that were completely opposite of each other and has given me a chance to portray different characters as an actress,” says Paoli who is happy with the way her Hindi film career has shaped up. She is also considering doing her third movie with Vikram.
Ankur Arora also stars Kay Kay Menon and Tisca Chopra, and Paoli says she is really fond of both her co-actors. “I just love the way they portray their characters. I love them watching on the screen. And after working with them, I love them as much off-screen,” she says as she reveals that every evening Tisca and she used to meditate together.
“We both are members of SGI (Soka Gakkai International) and we took time off together to meditate. It was a really good experience as it helped us in building our relationship and was also an energy booster,” she says and adds that contrary to his image even Kay Kay was fun-loving on the sets. “He cracked a joke every time there was silence on the sets and we burst out laughing,” she adds.
The actress, who has been working in Bengali TV and films since 2006, likes the way Hindi film industry functions and wishes that the regional film industry also learns and grows similarly. “It’s just the finance and infrastructure that varies. Otherwise the professionalism and effort put into making a film is almost the same and thus it needs to be promoted,” she concludes.