Ahead of the Ritabhari Chakraborty X Club Salon Calendar 2024 launch today, The Telegraph caught up with the multi-hyphenate actress for an annual adda on the theme she has explored this year, her kind of women in cinema and her mantra in life.

What's the theme of this year's calendar?

We are celebrating fashion and beauty over the years in cinema. Say, there is a look dedicated to Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi or one to Doris Day or Rita Hayworth, whose red carpet looks were comfortable yet elegant. There is also Deepika Padukone, Dimple Kapadia or Mandakini. We have done a sort of Bobby-ish look. I find Bobby looks hot yet playful. There is also Marilyn Monroe's Hollywood glam and the drama she brought. There is also a look that I have done with fur and corset which is very our generation... say, me, Alia Bhatt or Mimi (Chakraborty).

We haven't really gone for the exact look, but have tried to capture the essence of the era. This is my fifth year with the Club Salon team. When we started, it was a one-of-a-kind thing. I would say Club Salon and my bond has lasted for more years than many marriages I have seen in the last five years! (Laughs out loud)

The idea was to do something that also holds my identity as an actor. This is a tribute to different sorts of beauty in cinema across the years. This year we are also printing a good chunk to distribute among fans and people who are not part of the industry per se. The idea is for it to become a people's calendar, be a part of our journey and start the year with us.

For me, personally, this is an opportunity to meet everyone and remind them that I am there in their lives and they are in mine and they matter to me. That is a nice way to start the year.

Have you gone ahead with a selection of people who inspire you?

Absolutely. This is a collaboration and when we were discussing the looks, we made sure that the looks weren't vintage or retro, but more like a recollection of a personality. Kiara (Sen) has styled it. Siladitya (Dutta; photographer) and Bipradip (Chakraborty; photographer) have ensured that there is drama in the pictures. Babusona (Saha) has done the make-up and Abinash (Bhowmick) and Tanaya have done the hair. We shot it at Novotel Kolkata Hotel and Residences.

There is so much more to these women than just being heroines or stars of a certain era that made them who they were. I have particularly picked women whose glam avatars are well-known and appreciated and they are known a great deal for their beauty and fashion as much as their talent....

Over the years, who do you think have been the rule-breakers, when it comes to women in cinema?

I think the women I have mentioned so far have been rule-breakers in their own way. Some break rules in fashion and some in picking roles that one would never choose as a lead or at a certain age or after marriage. And, some for sure break rules just by existing. While I was doing the calendar there was a realisation that there is always so much focus on the fact that women or actresses are only worth something when they are young. As they age, nobody cares about them.

What's beautiful or enigmatic about an ageing Audrey Hepburn or Doris Day is that in their sense of fashion or choice of putting things together, you actually see who they were. You see an actress in so many looks, including me. I think after a certain age, women really become themselves and that's the most beautiful thing. You'll see Kate Winslet dress a certain way now when she is not working. And, I think there is a certain kind of beauty in owning your comfort factor.

You come from a family of strong women. How do you think they see women vis-a-vis you?

My mother's (filmmaker Satarupa Sanyal) affinity is towards women of substance who look real and embrace their so-called flaws, beauty with no filter. I, too, absolutely adore that and had it not been the case, I would have never done Fatafati or Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti or Fool for Love, with Anurag (Kashyap) or my upcoming film Grihastha. But I also love the glam bit of being a heroine and being presented in a larger-than-life way. My body is my instrument and how I want to decorate that is going to be my take on it.

Finally, what's the mantra for Ritabhari in 2024?

My mantra is always the same. Mind your own business and be kind. I try to stick to my definition of a good person and it is not easy to be a good person every day, but the effort is always there.