A date with Archita Sahu

With makeup rightly applied, Archita Sahu looks like a movie star. Without makeup, she is the quintessential girl-next-door! An actress and model, she faced the arc lights much before she entered the Pondʼs Femina Miss India Kolkata 2013 contest and won the Lakme Absolute Femina Miss Eyeconic eyes. She also won Miss Talented and Miss Stylish Hair titles in the finale. Despite these accolades, she was already famous for her career as an actor in various Oriya movies, having played the lead female role in several hits like Babu I Love You, Mu Eka Tumara, Loafer, Chocolate and Akashey Ki Ranga Lagila. She also won the Filmfare Best Actress Award last year.

I HAD REJECTED MANY OFFERS AS I WASNʼT PREPARED TO PLAY A FULL-FLEDGED FILMY HEROINE, SO TYPICAL OF OUR MOVIES, SINGING AND DANCING AND RUNNING AROUND TREES! BUT ONCE I BEGAN ACTING, I QUITE ENJOYED THE PROCESS. MY LAST RELEASED FILM IS SMILE PLEASE! I ALSO DID A VERY INTERESTING MOVIE CALLED THE LIGHT, BASED ON THE LIFE OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Archita says with a smile, “I have been working in cinema since 2005 and entered the film industry just after giving my Class Ten exams. Before that, I had worked in a telefilm as a child. I thoroughly enjoyed my school days. It was really a lot of fun mixed with hard work! I was also a national level scholarship holder for Odissi dance. I will let you into a secret: dance is my passion; acting is a hobby!”

After completing her schooling from D M School and B Tech from KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Archita began winning numerous local beauty pageants and was crowned Miss Kalinga in 2004. This gave her a break in a career in compering and modelling. And from the world of fashion she finally stepped into the world of films accompanied by thunderous applause. Archita has won several awards in her film career till date, including three state awards by the Government of Odisha. 

“Prabhanshu Samant Ray was the producer of my first film,” the actress reveals. “It was an out-and-out commercial project, a teenage love story with which I could identify. Before O My Love! I had rejected many offersas I wasnʼt prepared to play a full-fledged filmy heroine, so typical of our movies, singing and dancing and running around trees! But once I began acting, I quite enjoyed the process. My last released film is Smile Please! I also did a very interesting movie called The Light, based on the life of Swami Vivekananda. My character was based on Moynabai, the nautch girl. This film was such a huge learning process as the script gave us many glimpses of the great saint who was Ramakrishna Paramahamsaʼs favourite disciple.”

“I am focusing on regional cinema as Oriya films need a boost. Also, I am extremely wary of leaving home and being away in an alien city – be it Mumbai or Kolkata – without my mother. I am basically quite a lazybones! I like my own pace of work and am not overtly ambitious. But once I accept a project, I give it my best shot and work extremely hard.I am an engineer by profession and am currently pursuing an MBA degree. So acting and studying keep me busy and out of mischief!”

Archita says that much of her films are shot during her college vacations and she has made it clear to her producers that this is the only time she can allot to them. But they donʼt seem to be complaining and currently she is flooded with film offers. “You know, I became a star before I became an engineer,” she laughs. “It is quite funny. But I used to be teased a lot by my friends when I used to attend classes in college. I have had extremely good job offers but I decided to do my MBA before coming to any decision. I flow with the tide and donʼt think too much about the future, though I would love to work in arthouse cinema with some of Kolkataʼs current top directors. Bengal has such a wonderful tradition of parallel movies and film icons like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen are legends. At the end of it all, movies breed myths. I like myths. But I would also like to stay rooted to reality!”