“With Pradeep Sarkar, I felt I was working with Hrishikesh Mukherjee or Gulzar” - Jaya Bachchan

The actress needs no introduction. Her performance speaks of excellence, versatility, grace, simplicity and sensitivity.  Be it the adolescent girl obsessed with a film star in ‘Guddi’, deaf &dumb in ‘Koshish’, matching the epitome of acting ‘Sanjeev Kumar in Naya Din Nai Raat’ or be a quiet, devout, compassionate woman in ‘Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa’. Jaya Bachchan has portrayed the various plethoras of emotions with dignity, grace and excellence. She is joining the Yash Raj Banner after the gap of 16 years (she last worked for them in ‘Silsila’) with ‘Lagaa Chunri Mein Daag’, where she will be seen with Rani Mukherjee for the first time.

Here she talks about her experiences in ‘Laaga Chunri Mein Daag’.

What made you decide to do this film
Too many things, mainly because of the people involved the producer, the director, the script, the story and then the role

How different was it working for Yash Raj films several years ago and now
My family has worked so much with Yash Raj films that I just didn’t realize that this is only my second film with them

About your character in the film
It’s very difficult for me to tell about the character its better if one watches the film

Working with Pradeep Sarkar
Pradeep has great aesthetic eye and what I like about his aesthetic is that it is so Indian and that is so endearing. Today you do not see filmmakers depicting India, Indian culture, Indian language, Indian clothes and Indian tradition the way it should be they have become so westernized but I think I loved the way he does that with perfection. When I was working with him I felt I had gone 30 years back and I felt I was working with Hrishikesh Mukherjee or Gulzar that’s the kind of pleasure I got.

Shooting in an entirely Bengali set up
It is always said that the captain of the ship decides the mood and I think that Pradeep is so obviously and so obsessively Bengali that even non-Bengali’s became Bengali’s for the entire year while we were shooting for the film like Kunal, Abhishek and the technical unit as well.

Experience of shooting in Benaras
It was nice, except for the fact that we took turns in the unit and kept falling sick. I think the bonding started with Benaras we all bonded as a group as a unit and then when we met in Mumbai for the shooting which was indoors it was like one big family getting together for a wedding.

Any one memorable incident during the shoot of the film
It was a happy experience there was nothing unsual but what was interesting is that times have changes today film units work very differently but when I was shooting for this film it was not different. There is one big lesson I have learnt while shooting for this film is that I am basically a very impatient person but working with Pradeep I had to use all the patience that I could gather from myself because he is such a stickler that even if your hair is a little out of place it starts bothering him but I think its wonderful to have someone around who is so aesthetically perfect and who wants every frame to look wonderful and so real and nice.

On sharing her experience with working with her co-stars

Rani Mukherjee: I have never worked with Rani before; this is my first film with her. I have always considered her to be a very good artist and she is one of the most talented girls that we have today and over the years one has seen how she has matured as an actor. I liked her very much in her first movie and I was very pleasantly surprised to see a new girl so young in her first film giving such great performance.

When you work with good artist or when you have good actors as your co-artist your performance improves a lot there is a better standard of give and take in a scene and action- reaction so I hope that my performance is improved a lot after working with her.

Konkana Sen Sharma: This is my second film with Konkana, before this I did a film called Sunglass in Bengali with Konkana, she is playing my daughter in that film so it was easier because I started shooting for Laaga Chunari Mien Daag immediately after I finished Sunglass so there was a continuity. It just required me to change the language the emotions stayed on.

Kunal Kapoor: He is a very sweet boy, I really I didn’t have a lot of scenes with Kunal we just did one song together and because the whole unit was together It was nice

And with Abhishek
I have done a Bengali film where he had a small role in which he played my son. I did Drona where again he has played my son I think there is a tremendous comfort level working with him.