Jisshu Sengupta, who plays Vidya Balan’s on screen husband in Shakuntala Devi, says he is happy the film is getting an OTT release because it will have a much wider reach‘I am a very positive person’

Manpriya Singh

Thanks to the lockdown, actor Jisshu Sengupta can now pretty much match most of the switches to the respective fans and lights in his new house! He is not joking, only symbolically referring to how it was some quality time at home after constantly being on the go for almost three years. “I also got to spend time with my daughters whom I stay away from most of the time due to my work,” says the actor, currently e-promoting Shakuntala Devi.

As an actor, he would love to see himself on the 70-mm screen, “But at the same time, my film, if it were to release in theatres, wouldn’t have reached as many as 200 countries in one go. It also matters how many people have seen my film, OTT gives me a chance to do that.”

Slow & steady

After Manikarnika, wherein he essayed the role of Gangadhar Rao, things changed. “People started knowing me. You need to give that time, put in that work to get noticed. I have been around in Bollywood for only two-and-a-half years, which is nothing. If I am talented enough, I’ll get my due though.” Work is what matters at the moment, as for the accolades he is ready to wait for his turn or maybe even step back. For Shakuntala Devi too, “I don’t mind giving the credit to Vidya at all.”

Which, ironically, is also the essence of his character, Paritosh Banerji, the husband of the maths wizard, “One of the things that appealed to me is that we’ve often heard the adage, ‘behind every successful man, there’s a woman’… this one reverses that. When you watch the film, you’ll understand it.”

Staying positive

Unpredictability is a way of life in Indian cinema, more so in the light of recent noises being made in the industry and its working. While admitting to sometimes getting into dark spaces, he admits to not staying there for long, “Thankfully, I am a very positive person. I don’t get into the negative space most of the time. I won’t say I don’t at all, but, mostly, I am always hopeful.” Just as he is hopeful, theatres will open and people will return to cinema screens. In the meanwhile, it’s online streaming he is pinning all hopes on.

Apart from Shakuntala Devi, coming up is Sadak 2, and then a web series. While he is not ready to part with any more details, he says, “It’s a crime series.”