Senior Bengali actor Paoli Dam, who portrayed Pisima, based on the real-life character of Nanibala Devi, in Nikkhil Advani's The Revolutionaries, has been receiving huge praise for bringing life to the character on screen. Nanibala Devi, fondly called 'Pisima', was the first woman state prisoner in British Bengal. In an exclusive chat with NDTV, Paoli Dam discussed how she came on board for the project and why no Bengali actor was cast as the lead in a show based on four popular Bengali revolutionaries.
"Saleable Bengali Actor May Not Sell In Mumbai"
In the series, Bhuvan Bam plays Rash Behari Bose, Rohit Saraf as Sachindranath Sanyal, Pratibha Ranta as Pratibha Lahiri, and Gurfateh Pirzada as Bagha Jatin. Opened to mixed reviews, the series faced major criticism for not casting any Bengali actor in the lead roles.
Asked about the deciding factors of the casting, Paoli Dam tells NDTV, "Bombay works in a very different way. A Bengali actor who is considered saleable in Bengal may not be saleable in Mumbai.
"But when it comes to the South, they are considered saleable everywhere. The reason is the amount of money the South industry gets in return; the Bengali industry doesn't. So, this is the basic economics."
Apart from the economics, Paoli also says it's not necessary that you need to be a Bengali to play a Bengali character.
"Keeping that aside, if you take a saleable actor in today's time, can you guarantee that it will work? No. Because times have changed. I also feel that it's not necessary that a Bengali should play a Bengali role. In Vicky Donor, Yami Gautam was cast as a Bengali woman. Nobody questioned that.
"I also played many characters who are not Bengalis. In Hate Story, I played a character which is not Bengali, Kavya Krishna. In Tigmanshu Dhulia's The Great Indian Murder, my surname was Saxena.
"If you carry the emotion, the spirit of the language within you, it doesn't need to be this way or that way. I don't like stereotyping of things. I like breaking the stereotypes," Paoli tells us.
Talking about the lead cast, she said, "Four of them are extremely professional, sincere. They looked good on screen. Abhi kuch toh log kehenge, logo ka kaam hai kehena."
Did Bhuvan, Pratibha, Rohit And Gurfateh Seek Her Assistance In Bengali?
Paoli Dam tells us that the lead cast had a special coach to direct them on what to do and what not to do.
"But also Nikkhil Sir used to ask me, as you are a Bengali, you can tell them some Bengali words and lines to add a flavour. All of them asked me here and there. Ice was broken on the very first day. We became a family. They are lovely people. We are still in touch. We have a special WhatsApp group, nothing more on that," Paoli chuckles.
Praising her young co-stars, she says, "They are extremely popular yet down-to-earth, sincere and professional."
Machher Jhol Led To The Role Of Pisima
Nikkhil Advani approached Paoli for the role after watching Machher Jhol.
"Nikkhil (Sir) Advani saw my film Machher Jhol. He somehow loved the film and called me after watching it. He wanted to cast me for some series a few years ago. Eventually, that project didn't work out at that point of time. He always wanted to work with me. Who doesn't want to work with Nikkhil Advani?" Paoli tells NDTV.
'There Was Not A Lot Of Homework'
Nanibala Devi, who used to give shelter to the revolutionaries of the Jugantar, did a revolutionary thing when she met Ramachandra Majumdar in the Presidency jail, posing as his married wife despite being a widow during the British Raj. The series used this arc of Nanibala's character to heighten the emotional weight of Paoli's character.
"When I first met Sir, he said he wrote this character keeping me in mind. And I was waiting for which character. He had given a lot of freedom to actors. So, I studied a lot more about her. I knew about her already. She was one of the first women prisoners of the British Raj in Bengal. But I wouldn't say there was a lot of homework. Because the script was written in great detail. We had several sessions of script readings. The team was very open to suggestions, improvisations.
"And as a Bengali, I heard these stories from my mother, grandmothers. I have read them in the books. So, the only task was how I bring the character to the screen," Paoli tells us.
The Revolutionaries streams on Amazon Prime from September 11. The series is based on the non-fiction book Revolutionaries: The Other Story Of How India Won Its Freedom by Sanjeev Sanyal.
