After serials like Balika Vadhoo, Mohi, Saat Phere and Gunahon Ka Devta, actress Nivedita Bhattacharya, who was seen in the film The Vaccine War, has a deep association with TV then films and now web series. His strong character has been loved by fans. The variety of roles has also been highly appreciated. In this regard, actress Nivedita Bhattacharya has shared her experience about The Vaccine War and Bombay Mary Jaan in a special conversation with NDTV.
Q- Nivedita Bhattacharya, you were recently seen in The Vaccine War and Bombay Mary Jaan, how was the experience of playing two different characters?
Answer- Everyone knows that Rassi Yuddha is our scientist Balaram Bhargava, this novel is based on him. So when the call came to do the film, it was very exciting because normally you play a scientist. This does not happen. This is the story of the vaccine, the pandemic we just went through. The vaccine has been created due to the Corona period that has come into our lives. Made in our country. And now what are the results of that vaccine? Its reach is not only in India but all over the world. This story is how our scientists, despite all these problems in a short time, put their personal lives aside and thought something big and after a lot of hard work we made a vaccine of our own. It was a great experience in which I learned the way scientists talk because it is not our language or work. Making it a part of our language has been very challenging. Many things were revealed to me during this film because we do not live in the world of science. We don’t have much information about what’s going on there. I learned that more than 80 percent of the scientists who developed the vaccine were women. This was women’s empowerment. This was revealed to me during the shooting.
Q- How different was the character of The Vaccine War and Bombay Mary Jaan?
Answer- The role of Bombay Mary Jaan is the complete opposite of the character of The Vaccine War. Like Doctor Pragya is an educated scientist and Sakina’s character is that of an ordinary woman in Bombay Mary Jaan. He has not even studied much. And in this there is a world of difference between the family we have shown. Sakina’s education, lifestyle etc. When I got the chance to play Sakina, I worked on the language that was being used. It is not my everyday language. I had to work on this. Sakina’s character has many layers. It had many different aspects. If seen from the front, she is a housewife. But there is much more behind this. Sakina’s world is her home. Most of the times when we see Sakina, she stays at home and is confined to the house. She is seen struggling to support her husband and children. This is also his strength because he knows that this is his family and he has to run it together.
Question- How was working with your real life husband in reel life?
Ans- When we work with him as actors we understand each other’s work and understand the characters, so the experience of working with him on the sets has been great. Everyone knows what a capable actor he is, so it feels good to work with any good actor. I had a similar feeling when I was working with KK Menon. Whatever scenes we had with each other and our coordination on the sets. It was great that we connected. Due to this, they appeared on camera like an onscreen family. The home environment on the sets is not like that.
Q- Work or family, which do you choose first?
Answer-All of our lives are better if we have the support of our families. Work is as much a part of your life as your family. If you are with family, work will also happen. That’s why work doesn’t come first or family comes first, they run on equal footing. It is a part of life. You can’t separate it. I’ve been working since college, so while my family supports me, I don’t draw a line between family and work.
Q- As an actor, which web series, film and TV serial have you been most comfortable working in?
Answer- All these three mediums have their own importance and scope. When I did TV, your work reached viewers every day through daily soaps. TV reaches every corner of the country. His story is long and it is not known when it will end. So that character has a journey of his own, which does not know where it will end. When we do a film or a web series, the story is decided. The film has a story of two and a half hours and the web series has eight to ten episodes. So the journey of the character is visible from the beginning to the end. As an actor, you know where it starts and ends. It becomes clear how important the character will be in this. That is why I am an actor and as an actor it is my responsibility to adapt to any medium, whatever the platform.