‘Chhaad’ a story of human empowerment: Paoli Dam

Mumbai, Mar 2 (PTI) Bengali film star Paoli Dam says she decided to be part of the upcoming film “Chhaad – The Terrace” the moment director Indrani Chakraborty told her the title of the movie.

The upcoming Bengali film marks the feature film directorial debut of Chakraborty, best known for her National Award-winning documentary “Ladakh Chale Rickshawala”.

“Chhaad – The Terrace” explores the relationship of a writer-school teacher called Mitra with a terrace and eventually her disillusionment attached to it.

Dam, known for films such as “Kaalbela”, “Elar Char Adhyay”, “Sab Charitro Kalponik”, “Moner Manush”, and “Machher Jhol”, plays Mitra in the movie.

“The film is talking about a woman, but it could have been a man also; it’s about human empowerment. That’s what made me think of doing it. The first thing I asked my director without even listening to the story was: ‘What’s the name of the film?’ and she said, ‘Chhaad’.

“And I said, ‘I’m doing the film’. I immediately understood the elements that she was going to put in,” the actor told PTI in an interview during a special screening of the film at the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) here.

According to the actor, the terrace serves as a metaphor for freedom.

“What resonated with me in this film is that both Mitra and I love the concept of the terrace. A terrace is a place which symbolises freedom metaphorically.

“Somewhere, even if you’re alone on a terrace, you don’t feel lonely because you feel closer to nature, you feel happy from within, and you feel so romantic at times. All of these factors together made me accept Mitra. Mitra is extremely different from who I am personally, and her conflicts, her crisis, too, are different,” she added.

“Chhaad – The Terrace” weaves together the external and internal journeys of its protagonist, said Dam, adding that she is drawn to roles that are “complicated”.

“… Nothing is black or white. There are a lot of grey elements in our lives, which are more real and closer to life. We call cinema a reflection of life and these are the characters which make cinema more real.”

In recent years, film and OTT platforms have seen a significant shift in women-led narratives, the actor said.

“The writing has become a little more unapologetic, which was needed. I feel (there is a) need for more women directors and writers to come into the industry because of the way they perceive something… The sensibility and sensitivity that comes in the thought process.

“Feminism is about equality. It’s not about you having to show women in a certain way, so you have to demean men, or you have to show men in a certain way, so you have to demean women. So, there has to be a space where there’s harmony and rhythm in the storytelling,” she said.

Recounting her struggles as an actor, Dam said she faced discrimination based on her skin tone at the beginning of her acting career.

“There was a time when in mainstream film and so-called ‘commercial cinema’, you needed to look a certain way… With a fair skin tone… There was a categorisation of things, which I felt like this is not the way I’ve been brought up. There was no discrimination between my brother and me while growing up,” she added.

Dam will next be seen in “Bibi Payra”, a Bengali action dark comedy film, and a Hindi period web series.

“Chhaad – The Terrace”, produced by NFDC, will be released in theatres on March 7.