Talented and good looking actor, Piew Jana, currently seen in Star Plus show, Krishna Chali London, is pleased as punch.
For her short, Binodini, where she plays one of the leads, is on a roll. After being a finalist at the Kolkata Film Festival, it has now picked up the Best Short Film award at the recent Singapore International Film Festival.
“Our 15-minute story, directed by Whistling Woods student, Mallika Subramanian, is an adaption of cult Bengali story, Chokarbali, originally written by Rabindranath Tagore.”
Talking about her character, Piew, who was earlier part of feature film, Mere Sairam, says, “Oporna is a sweet young bride who is full of life. However, my widow friend, Binodini (Shalani Sen), feels jilted as my on-screen husband (Rajeshwar) was to get married to her, but he chickened out, not wanting to wed a widow.”
“I really enjoyed my character as it let me, a modern girl, go back to the pre-independence era, that too, with a Bengali backdrop. Being a Bong myself, I loved the period costumes and lingo, which changed a lot since then. Here, I must give full credit to my director for getting the goods out of me.”
“The biggest challenge in a short is time; you have to tell the entire story in a limited period as opposed to feature or web series,” says Piew, who has also done comedy short film, Meri Girlfriend, last year.
Here, Piew, who recently got married, says that the #MeToo movement needs to be properly examined. “Let’s face it; it all depends on the women. If any guy makes a pass at me, I will shut him down, whoever he is, there and then. I will not wait 20 years to talk about it. Also, how come you accuse some one of continuous rape after being with him in a relationship for long?”
“It makes no sense in first pandering to him and then crying foul. Many women do it. I have often wondered how many actresses who do no work live in plush apartments, drive fancy cars and wear expensive threads. It is simple; these girls tell their guys that if you want a physical relationship, you better pay for it.”
“Being a traditional girl, I can’t get this concept of dating and living in. Many guys had approached me for the same thing, but I always turned them down.”
In closing, she says, “I also don’t get this concept of falling for your on-screen partner. We are actors who are just doing our respective parts. It is totally wrong to betray your partner for some fun on the sly.”