Debutante artiste bags award in Marathi feature

Abhirami Bose, debutante actor hailing from the city, has won the Best Actor Feature (Female) at the Global Indian Film Festival 2020, Jaipur, for her role in Marathi feature film Ratricha Paus (Nocturnal Rain).

The film, directed by Shine Ravi, also fetched the Best Film and Best Music awards at the festival. “I was in the green room preparing for my next film when the producer called to break the news. I could barely control my excitement,” said Ms. Abhirami, who is an alumnus of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Jipmer in Puducherry, now living in Mumbai.

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With the nocturnal shoot schedules of her upcoming Bollywood mainstream entertainer leaving her to sleep off the fatigue through the morning, it wasn’t until Friday afternoon that Ms. Abhirami took to social media to celebrate the achievement. “Proud moment for the whole team of Ratricha Paus. We won three awards last night,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “I owe this to all my teachers, including my parents who have guided me and taught me whatever little I know,” she wrote.

Ms. Abhirami, who is daughter of musician P.V. Bose who fronts the band TranSwaras, had graduated in psychology course from Christ University, Bengaluru, before enrolling in an acting course at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

Surprising offer

She was in the final semester of the course around May last year when Mr. Ravi called on his professor friend at the FTII for help with casting. Ms. Abhirami’s name was suggested by a faculty member in the sound engineering department who thought she was a perfect fit to play Mansi, the protagonist of the story of Ratricha Paus — a soulful tale of peasant woman from a drought-stricken village who moves to a big city in the hope of a better life but gets entrapped in the seamy side of brothels and traffickers.

“We did the audition right there in the sound engineering room of the institute. Fortunately, the director too was convinced that I was the right choice for the role,” she said.

The shooting for Ratricha Paus began in July, 2019, and was completed over the next two months — the coronavirus pandemic has stalled the film’s theatrical release. Dubbing for the film loomed as a challenge as she was only faintly familiar with Marathi even though her mother is a Maharashtrian.

“Though the director offered to hire a professional dubbing artist, I wanted to lend my voice to the character though it took some hand-holding by colleagues on the set”, said Ms. Abhirami. “I am now glad and proud that I did.”