Swastika Mukherjee: Best characters from her Bengali movies to remember

Swastika Mukherjee is a presence that you would hardly miss. You just can’t move to any of Kolkata’s streets without her adorable face and blue eyes gazing back at you. Be it a billboard advertising, a mobile phone or a film’s poster, Swastika is undoubtedly one of the city’s most favourite silver-screen divas. Starting her illustrious film career with ‘Hemanter Pakhi’ in 2002, she has come a long way in acting as well as in life. Here we take a look at Swastika’s five most memorable film roles so far.

Swastika Mukherjee, playing a head-strong mother Alita Apte in her Maranti debut ‘Aaron’, has earned accolades for delivering a heart-touching performance. The Omkar Shetty directorial is heavy on emotions trying to explore what parenthood and unconditional love actually mean through the perspective of a young boy. ‘Aaron’ also features Shashank Ketkar and Neha Joshi in the lead. When speaking about the film recently, Swastika said: “I was so emotionally moved that I convinced Omkar Shetty to give me the mother’s role, despite not knowing the language. The film follows the emotional journey of a kid in search of his mother and as I am a single mother it came spontaneously when shooting.”

Swastika Mukherjee played the role of actress Doel Mitra whose sex scene from an upcoming movie gets leaked on the social media. The incident gave her a bitter taste of public indignation. However, all the criticism and fierce humiliation end ironically when the same actress was awarded a prestigious prize for the same film. It’s Swastika Mukherjee's nude scene that drew more attention than the whole movie or the success of the movie. Later, director Mainak Bhowmick claimed the rage, the fury that actress Paoli Dam had to face from common people after her controversial movie ‘Chatrak’, actually inspired him to make a film like ‘Take One’.

This is one of the best films that Bengali film industry has witnessed so far. The narrative carefully builds up with every minute detail thoroughly checked and continues till the end. The simple storyline revolves around a haunted mansion in Kolkata. The characters and their characterisation by excellent actors with amazing one-liners turn out to be the essence of this movie. Swastika Mukherjee here essays an interesting role of a yesteryear actress Kadalibala Dasi, who had been spurned in love many a time. Her old Bengali film dialects, funny antics and witty remarks stand apart among other characters. The romantic scenes where Sumit Samaddar’s refugee ghost character tries to win Kadalibala’s heart will surely tickle your funny bones.

Suman Mukhopadhyay’s ‘Asomapto’ tries to explore the plethora of human emotions within a marital relationship. Swastika Mukherjee as a drunken college professor Moloy’s (Bratya Basu) depressed wife Tuki plays her part to a tee. Her complex relation with Moloy’s friend Indrajit (Ritwick Chakraborty) brings forth a new meaning to the quiet, foggy nature of human psychology. The growing tension between the characters gives you a sharp contrast with the calm and quiet hilly nature, which have been shot beautifully.

In Anjan Dutt’s ‘Ami Ashbo Phirey’, Swastika plays the role of a criminal lawyer named Gargi, who hasn’t lost any of her cases so far. According to the story, she is currently busy fighting a legal battle involving rape. On the working front nobody is better than her but in personal life, she is totally devastated. As the film is a serious musical, songs play a big part in Gargi’s life and music somehow brings stability to her restlessness. The recently released social drama is all about the journey through the pain of a lonely heart while music being the remaining hopes to guide the characters to forgive, forget and go on.

The gripping thriller will keep you glued to your seats till the end credits. Anjan Dutt’s ‘Byomkesh O Agniban’ is largely based on two stories “Agniban” and “Uposanghar” but the second one has reference to another story ‘Satyanweshi’, so there is a small portion of ‘Satyanweshi’ too. Swastika Mukherjee is quite impressive as a lonely housewife and seductress. In one particular scene with Jisshu, her character attempts to seduce Byomkesh (Jisshu Sengupta) and together, the pair share amazing chemistry in that scene. Swastika excelled as Malati. However, she could have been used more technically and expressively.