Why Bengali actress Subhashree Ganguly chose to play a 70-year-old on screen

Kolkata, Feb 22 Subhashree Ganguly, the Bengali Superstar, known for playing glamorous roles on screen, is essaying the character of a 70-year-old for 'Indubala Bhaater Hotel'.

Subhashree is known for hit films like 'Challenge', 'Khokababu', 'Romeo', 'Khoka 420', 'Paran Jai Jaliya Re' and 'Parineeta' and is all set to make her OTT debut with her upcoming web series 'Indubala Bhaater' Hotel on hoichoi.

Directed by Debaloy Bhattacharya, the series is adapted from the popular novel of the same name written by Kallol Lahiri tells the story of a young girl from East Pakistan with a simple life, strewn with small pockets of joy. Her life changes after she moves to Calcutta following her marriage and tries to build a life there.

Keeping her hometown alive through her food, Indubala opens up a small hotel within her house and feeds office goers, students and the masses, delicacies of her hometown. Each dish has a story or a memory attached to it and whoever eats at Indubala Bhaater Hotel inadvertently becomes a part of that story.

A challenging role for the actress to play, Subhashree Ganguly embodies Indubala with finesse. Going through strenuous hours of prosthetics and makeup, voice training, body language embodiment, she brings Indubala to life.

According to her, the acting process wasn't the only challenge she faced.

Reminiscing about her journey playing Indubala, Subhashree said: "Indubala Bhaater Hotel marks my entry into the OTT world and I don't think there's any other content that I'd rather have done it with. When I read the script, I knew I had to do it. This role is unlike anything I have done before."

"I had to play an elderly woman, embody her traits, look, body language etc. But that's not all. I think the question I faced a lot was why move to OTT and why steer away from my glamorous roles and play a 70-yo on screen. I think an actress's true joy lies in playing as many different characters as she can."

"So with that intent and the support of my loved ones, I chose to do Indubala and hope the audiences can see this effort."