"Bipasha Basu sheds glamour for her first Bengali role"

"Bipasha Basu sheds glamour for her first Bengali role"

Bipasha Basu is looking forward to her first Bengali role for which she has shed glamour.

Bipasha will be seen in a new avatar in Rituparno Ghosh 's neo-realistic film 'Shob Choritroi Kalponik' (All Characters are Imaginary) - in starched cotton saris and long blouses.

'I don't know why people think it's tough to do realistic roles. Not at all! It's the fantasy that's hard to make real. For my role in Ritu-da's film the cotton saris, long blouses and a bindi took care of the physicality,' Bipasha told a news agency.

The actress binged big-time while in Kolkata for the shooting, throwing all caution to the winds. 'On Rituparno Ghosh's sets they served two kinds of fish every day for lunch. Plus, a lot of mishti doi (sweet curd) and other sweets.

'But I don't feel guilty. I go to the gym every morning before shooting. And the location is seven minutes from my hotel. So I don't need to be caught up in Kolkata's infamous traffic,' she said.

How is she coping with the Bengali? 'What do you mean, coping with the Bengali? I'm a Bengali girl and I get much practice at home in Mumbai. The two Bengali maids in my kitchen were my rehearsal ground for the character."

The actress is making sure she wears her blouses up to her elbow for her first Bengali film. "I play a woman, who's older, mature, experienced and a wife to boot. Ritu-da has given me these crisp cotton saris. I wear them with long blouses so that my muscles don't show. Can't look muscular when my life is sagging."

Bipasha is full of praise for her director. "Ritu-da is definitely going to present me in a different light. And by that I mean even the physical texture and mood of the shots. Otherwise, there's no big difference between working in Mumbai and Kolkata.

"Yeah, Ritu-da did give me a hard-bound script to begin with. But you know what? That's what I get from all my producers in Mumbai these days, and not just Yash Raj. I got hard-bound scripts for Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal and Abbas-Mastan 's Race ."