It was an evening to remember as Puja Banerjee recently celebrated her birthday with friends, family and colleagues. A special screening of her latest Addatimes series Cabaret was also held on the occasion. The guests mingled, talked about the series, and posed for the cameras. “It feels lovely to be in this lovely, warm atmosphere. Cabaret captures the essence of a certain era. People were much more simpler then... the way they would express emotions was different. We have tried to be very authentic to that time,” said Puja.

Puja's husband Kunal Verma feeds her a piece of cake

A period drama set in Calcutta, Cabaret tells a love story of cabaret dancer Miss Elina (played by Puja) and a Naxalite militant, Swarup (played by Satyam Bhattacharya), set against the backdrop of politics, social hierarchy, class struggle and human relationships. It is an emotional journey of a young girl from a remote village. Directed by Utsav Mukherjee, Cabaret also stars Shantilal Mukherjee.

Talking about the response to the series, Utsav said: “I have been hearing very emotional and heartfelt feedback about the series. What I am loving as a filmmaker is not only the good words about the show, it is how people are talking about it in details mentioning specific scenes, moments and other nuances. Another thing also made me genuinely happy is that a lot of people are showing or referring the series to their parents or elderly members of the family who actually belonged to the historical time framework I attempted to capture.”

Vikram Chatterjee, Jeetu Kamal, Satyam Bhattacharya

For the first time, Puja plays the role of a cabaret dancer. “I always wanted to play a character like Miss Elina. Cabaret has got a very beautiful love story in it. As an actor, you get very little opportunity where the script demands the best of you. Miss Elina has quite a lot of shades,” says Puja.

“Miss Elina comes to terms with different people and situations that not only shape her life but also determine the courses of others around her. It’s a story of love, passion, family, emotion, politics, revenge and, most importantly, of different human conditions,” says Utsav.

Puja Banerjee poses against her Cabaret poster

Shantilal plays Vijay Shah, who was the manager of the hotel Le Moulin Rouge back in the 1940s and 1950s when the hotel was owned by an Englishman, David Attenborough. Shah desperately fell in love with a sensational cabaret dancer of that time called Edna Rosario but Edna ran away with her paramour leaving Shah dejected and heartbroken forever. Later in the 1960s, Shah bought the hotel from David and after meeting Khushi, he decided to start cabaret all over again. He invests time, money, and resources on Khushi to turn her into Miss Elina, a contemporary counterpart of Edna. Life turns out differently as Elina falls in love with Swarup, a young man (played by Satyam Bhattacharya) he once gave shelter out of his gratefulness towards his father.

 Pictures: Rashbehari Das