Fenil and Bollywood

Bipasha Basu in Shob Charitro Kalponik

Bipasha Basu may have made her displeasure known when Rituparno Ghosh, who directed her first Bengali film, Shob Charitro Kalponik, had got someone else to dub her voice that too without informing her. However, all differences were magically dissolved on Tuesday afternoon when the Bengali spitfire saw the film with her younger sister, Vijayeta and mother.

“Not all my grievances,” Bipasha quickly amends that. “But yes, most of my misgivings went out of the window when I saw the film. I still feel the voice speaking for me, is not mine. But luckily, the performance hasn’t suffered.”

Of course, for the first 15 minutes, Bipasha and her sister were in splits. “My sister couldn’t stop giggling because the voice was not mine. Bengali women have a particular way of speaking, it’s very musical. Sharmila Tagore, Aparna Sen and even Konkona Sensharma have it, but I don’t. My voice isn’t melodious. It’s husky and very easy to identify. Moreover, my character speaks in both Bengali and English, lots of English. My sister said, ‘That’s not how you speak English at all’. Of course, everyone will know it’s not my voice. My mother too was concerned,” says Bipasha.

But thankfully for Bipasha (or even Rituparno) the performance takes over. “It’s the best role of my life. The woman is so unlike me. To start with, she’s a lot older than me, her clothes (saris), mannerisms, body language and speech, everything is different. I play this woman whose husband is a poet and no wage-earner. So she has to reluctantly look after the whole family. It’s basically about the ideological gap between the couple, he being an idealist and she being the practical one. There are no outbursts. All the conflicts are muffled. I forgot how much hurt Ritu had caused me by dubbing my voice without informing me,” says Bipasha.

Rituparno Ghosh

After seeing the film, Bipasha immediately messaged Rituparno. She has also decided to dub for one print to be eligible for the National Award. “Earlier when the producers (Reliance Big Pictures) asked me, I had refused because of what had been done. I am very clear about what I want but I’m not obstinate. I’ll now dub for the National Award print. Also, the voice that had been used for me initially was that of an older woman,” she adds.