When Srijit first messaged, I thought it was a prank: Badhon

Actress Azmeri Haque Badhon has recently returned from Kolkata after shooting a web series. Kolkata director Srijit Mukherjee is making the web series based on a thriller novel 'Rabindranath Ekhane Kokhono Khete Asen Ni' written by Mohammad Nazim Uddin.

Badhon is playing the lead role in it as a strong character, Muskan Zuberi.

She shared her experience of working in her first web series with a renowned director like Srijit. 

"I had no acquaintance with Srijit before. I knew him as a director and saw his works. I did not know if he knew me. One day, at the beginning of the pandemic, he knocked me on my WhatsApp. It was an Indian mobile number and the identity was of Srijit. But I thought maybe someone else was pranking me. So, I did not respond," said Badhon.

 "Later he contacted me in a conference call with Bangladeshi producer Shahriar Shakil. That was the beginning of my contact with Srijit," she added.

Srijit sent a photo of the novel's cover to Badhon, on which the web series is based. Then Badhon immediately downloaded the PDF copy of that novel and started reading it. Srijit also  asked her to send a photo of herself in the getup depicted in the photo that he sent, which was the getup of Muskan Zuberi, the main character. Badhan sent the photo and waited for his reply.

Srijit did not take too much time to reply and soon after that Badhon joined online rehearsal for the web series. The rehearsal continued for seven months in a row.

Badhan went to Kolkata on 11 December for the shooting. That was her first meeting with Srijit and his team. Photography and costume trials took place next day from 12 pm to 9 pm. On that day, Bandhan came to know for the first time that Rahul Bose and Anjan Dutt are on the list of her co-stars in this series.

She was amazed to find such famous artists in the same team. She was also a little bit nervous.

By that time, Badhan had entered into the character psychologically. "I never thought I would be able to play this character. It is a web series centred on female characters. In fact, movies or series usually do not show the grey shades of female characters. They portray either an ideal woman or an evil one. There is nothing in between. This character is of various shades," said Badhon.

She said the shooting started on 16 December at a palace in Dashghora, Burdwan. The shooting of Satyajit Ray's Ghore Baire was also shot in this house. It will be shown as the home of Muskan Zuberi.

All the shooting of Badhon took place in that house. For her, it was a collective achievement.

After Burdwan, the shooting took place in Kolkata. Many other co-artists including Anjan Dutt joined there. Then the team travelled to Sikkim. They had to finish shooting in quite unfavourable weather there.

Badhon said, "Many big stars acted with me in the series. They worked so cordially that I felt very easy to work with them. They worked with utmost sincerity, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of the co-artists. This is probably the greatest virtue of being a great artist. It was a great experience for me."

Badhon will go to Kolkata again soon to do the dubbing. After that the web series will be released.

She said there was a time when I used to work only for work's sake. Maybe for money or for no reason. "But times have changed. Now, I have some understanding of life. So now I cannot do all kinds of work even if I want to."

"Now I understand what is important for me to do and what is not. Now I have started to love acting more. For this reason, only time will tell what the future works of mine will be like," she added.