After debuting on the big screen with Baba Baby O, television star Solanki Roy is picking up accolades once again for her second feature film Shohorer Ushnotomo Dine, directed by Aritra Sen. This time it’s extra special since she has been able to recreate her hit screen chemistry with her Ichche Nodee co-star Vikram Chatterjee. Solanki tells us about her latest release, her comfort level with Vikram and her other interests.

Shohorer Ushnotomo Dine is running at the theatres. What is the best feedback you have received so far?

Solanki Roy: Audiences could relate to my character Anindita’s turmoil and I am glad that I have been able to touch their hearts. They felt the sheer love of Kolkata through the film.

It is your second feature film. What made you pick this one?

Solanki Roy: The script. Aritra (Sen) read the first half of the script to me while he was still framing the post-interval part. I immediately said yes. The script is very relatable and I felt others would also be able to relate to it in the same way. My character Anindita’s love for Kolkata motivated me to take it up.

You and Vikram have been a hit pair on television for Ichche Nodee. How would you decode this chemistry?

Solanki Roy: I don’t know if we have made any extra effort to create this chemistry on screen. It is a very organic process. Our friendship started with banter. Our off-screen comfort level has grown after Ichche Nodee. For Ichche Nodee, the script helped us a lot. I was very new to everything. Vikram is very senior to me. He would give me a lot of suggestions. In eight years, our off-screen friendship has grown. People loved us together in Ichche Nodee. There was no expectation. For chemistry, the script, dialogues, scenes and the direction matter.

For this film, we knew people would be expecting things from us which they hadn’t during Ichche Nodee. We weren’t sure if people still liked us or whether we would be able to translate the same chemistry on screen again or not. We had this tension. But when we started rehearsing for the scenes, we realised that the organic thing was still there, and we still understood each other’s pulse very much.

It is a coming-of-age love story of millennials. Do you see shades of yourself or your friends in the characters of the film?

Solanki Roy: Absolutely. When we would sit for script reading, we would ask Aritra, ‘How could you write our stories?’ Aritra said this was his story too. That is when we understood that we were very similar in the core, just that the situations were different.

Two of my very close childhood friends stay abroad. I could relate to it when a character says, ‘You will leave everything and go. You won’t be staying in Kolkata’. I realised that I also said the same thing to my friends. These conversations have happened, so we could see ourselves at some point or the other. There has been a huge urban displacement. I felt if audiences, especially the younger generation, come to the cinema hall and watch the film, they would definitely relate to it.

How has it been working with Aritra Sen?

Solanki Roy: He is a super chilled out person. He has a great sense of humour. He talks very little but when he says anything, you’ll have your ROFL moments. He’s a young filmmaker working with a team of young people, and he’s fun to work with. We somehow vibed a lot. He gave us absolute freedom to improvise and would take our inputs. He is a very non-interfering director. At the same time, he would stop us if we became too indulgent. There would always be long conversations before shooting a scene.

You made your film debut with Aritra Mukherjee’s Baba Baby O. What kind of feedback did you get from the industry? What kind of film offers did you start getting after that film was released?

Solanki Roy: To be honest, I wasn’t really getting offers as I was busy with a television show. When you are working on a TV show, time management becomes very difficult. Aritra wanted to do this film with only us, so we managed the dates.

The feedback that I have got after Baba Baby O and even Shohorer Ushnotomo Dine is that the audience saw nuanced emotions and layers in both the characters I played. I am a very emotional person, and I have grown up reading stories and novels.

People told me that I looked absolutely amazing with Jisshuda (Sengupta) in Baba Baby O. It was a huge compliment for me because he’s a gorgeous man. Jisshuda himself told me, ‘You are a little person but we look good together on screen’. It was my first film and I was very nervous.

Having worked in television, OTT and films, do you have any plans around which direction you want to go?

Solanki Roy: Right now I am concentrating on films. I want to take a break from TV. I have been doing television for 10 years now. Television has given me my whole audience base. Television has given me everything. When I did OTT, I was a little sceptical because the TV audience has seen me in a certain way and I wasn’t sure if they would accept me in a different way. Later, I understood that they actually loved me. It is a huge thing for me. They don’t know me personally but have shown love towards me and my work. They have judged me on the basis of my work. I have done very few films. I have grown up watching films on the big screen, so I want to go through that magical experience now.

After two films, what are some of your takeaways on the film industry vis-a-vis working for television and OTT?

Solanki Roy: Audiences have very different wants from the three different mediums. They are very intelligent and they know what they want to watch and where. Bengali audiences have respect for good work. We need to be very honest with our performance. If there’s honesty in your work, it will reflect on screen. My takeaway is to be very honest in my performance and opt for good stories.

You are an avid reader, painter and a trained dancer. Do you continue to make time for your passions?

Solanki Roy: I couldn’t continue with dance but dance is something that never tires me out. If I have to perform, I can practise till 3 at night. If I have to tell a lot of things that I can’t express through writing, I paint. And books are my life. It’s not that I engage in these activities regularly but I love going back to them. If I am very anxious about something, I paint or write. Creating something always keeps me going.

What projects are you working on right now or going to start next?

Solanki Roy: I have no projects right now. I am very happy with the love I am receiving for Shohorer Ushnotomo Dine. Nobody has connected with me for any project but I am in search of a good script.