With her sultry appeal, earthy beauty, diva-like attitude and va-va-voom figure, Bipasha Basu was the ideal choice to play the imaginary woman who colours the male protagonist’s fantasy in Pankh.
Director Sudipto Chattopadhay says, “Bipasha does not play a real human in Pankh. She is a figment of the Jerry (the protagonist)’s imagination; an alter ego that he creates. She is neither a ghost nor a human but a fantasy who fits into Jerry’s emotional mood and psyche at a particular point of time. She has 13 personalities in the film which is one up over Priyanka Chopra’s 12 characters in What’s Your Raashee? I had written the characters with Bipasha in mind and I was delighted when she agreed to do the film as she liked the script.”In case you are wondering how long the film is, fret not as it will only take 100 minutes of your time.
He is all praise for Bipasha’s acting prowess. “All the diva-like personas are larger than life. So, her body language, costumes, make-up and hair had to change with each of them. Bipasha has done a remarkable job in the film. She walked an extra mile for it and agreed to do it in spite of it being a radical film instead of a commercial one.”
Sudipto hasn’t seen too many of Bipasha’s films. “I haven’t seen all her movies but I liked her work in Jism; she held her own in Apaharan and was brilliant in Bachna Ae Haseeno.”
About his debut feature film, he says, “Pankh isn’t an arty film. We have made it for a sensitive, emotional audience who will understand the plight of the child-actor protagonist. Cross-dressing is a common phenomenon in Bollywood and it creates a lot of confusion in the child’s mind. We want to show how cross-dressing destroys a child’s life.”
Pankh stars Bipasha Basu, Lilette Dubey, debutants Maradona Rebello and Amit Purohit, Ronit Roy, Sanjeeda Sheikh and Mahesh Manjrekar.
