‘I’m in love with the hills’: Rituparna

doweshowbellyad=0; CT catches up with Rituparna Sengupta at Chalsa, Doars, in between shots (TOI Photo)
More picsRajesh Khanna wooed his Sapno ki rani, Sharmila Tagore, in the verdant greens of North Bengal. SRK crooned Main Hoon Na to Sushmita Sen in a sprawling school campus in North Bengal. The Chhote Nawab pensively strummed about his Parineeta, Vidya Balan as the toy train meandered through the plush tea gardens of North Bengal.Konkona ���Titli��� Sen Sharma harbourbed an open crush over Mithun Chakraborty amidst the pristine North Bengal locales. The latest add-on to the long list of North Bengal lovers is Rituparna Sengupta.
The actor was recently there to shoot for Anjan Das��� venture titled Swarger Nichey Manush, also starring Parambrata and Tapas Pal. Interestingly, the sloping terrains, hair-pin bends and virgin locales have time and again lured the actor into boarding the North Bengal train. ���I have a long association with the place. Starting from Swapan Saha���s venture to Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury���s Anuranan to the present Anjan Das��� venture, I���ve done it all in North Bengal,��� says the actor. For her latest flick, the unit has shot at a place called Bindu, a small picturesque village along the Indo-Bhutan border. Anuranan, however, explored the beauty of Sikkim and Peling whereas Sandip Ray���s Nishijapon was entirely shot in Kalimpong.
Rituparna gets into a reminiscent mode as she talks about her initial ventures in North Bengal. ���In the Swapan Saha venture, I was cast as a tribal girl. We had to shoot a song sequence along a river bank. Dressed as a snake-charmer, the song required me to hold a knife all through. Even after so many years, the experience has still not faded from memory.��� In yet another shooting episode in North Bengal, Rituparna shares her experiences of working in Abhijit Dasgupta���s Dwitiyo Basanta. ���That year I could not stay back in Kolkata during Holi. But I had my bit of ���colourful��� fun with the unit during the shoot. In fact, whenever I���m in the hills, I feel tension-free.���
With no work pressure to bog her down in North Bengal, the Bong beauty is more than eager to go there for shoots. ���I have recently completed shooting for Subhrajit Mitra���s Mon Amour-Shesher Kobita Revisited. Kudos to this young director who has so creatively captured every location in North Bengal. I believe that hard work always reaps benefit at the end of the day.���
Rituparna���s obsession with the hilly terrains and the snow-covered peaks has only grown over the years. Her favourite hangout is ���a place called Kalijhora in North Bengal, where there is a hanging bridge. The setting is so picturesque and poetic that anyone would fall in love with the place���.
Adding more spice to her North Bengal love affair, are the piping hot momos, a typical of the place. ���Whenever there, I thrive on this delectable platter. So much so that they are my staple diet for breakfast, lunch and dinner.��� And as if to ward off the weight worries after a filling meal, the actor makes it a point ���to get off to an early start and watch the dewdrops dripping down the greens amidst a foggy surrounding.��� She makes sure never to give the sunset a miss too. ���There���s a riot of colours in the sky during the twilight hour. The place is also pollution-free. I end up a dreamer each time I walk down the hills of North Bengal,��� signs off Rituparna.