Palomi Ghosh is the actress who won the hearts of the people of Goa as Dona, the lead character in the National Award winning Konkani film, ‘Nachom-ia Kumpasar’. In Goa for the staging of the play ‘Club Desire’, the actress is eager to talk about the film that granted her instant adulation. Interestingly, Palomi had just 20 days to ace the performance and had to do it all by just reading the script and understanding the emotions the character was going through. “I just reacted according to the situation in the film,” she says. Commenting on her overall Goan experience, she adds, “I was here for the first few screenings of the film; interval time was spent clicking photographs and selfies with the audience. It was a humbling experience. I find Goans very polite; I once had a man from Goa come up to me on a flight to tell me that he loved my performance, but he spent the first five minutes apologising for intruding my privacy. ”
Revealing a bit about the play ‘Club Desire’ and her character Chahat, she says, “I was very excited to perform in Goa as the place is very close to me; I also was curious to see how the audience would react to my role in the play.” She further adds, “There are similarities as well as vast differences in the roles of Dona and Chahat. Chahat is based on the character of Carmen from the original Georges Bizet’s French opera ‘Carmen’; in this play, Chahat is very fiery and extremely independent. She doesn't like anyone setting boundaries fro her and her aspirations and she decides between right and wrong. She also swears a lot. The play has the name ‘Club Desire’ because she is desirable.”
The play, ‘Club Desire,’ a version of Georges Bizet’s French opera, ‘Carmen’, was staged as a fundraiser for the National Association for the Blind, Goa and was directed by Sunil Shanbag with Palomi playing the lead role. ‘Club Desire’ has Palomi singing around 6-7 songs and she enjoyed every bit of it. “With ‘Nachom-ia Kumpasar’, Ceilda Pereira did a great job as the voice of Dona, and I was happy that I got to sing two songs in the second half of the film – ‘Tuzo Mog’ and ‘Adios’. In this play, Chahat breaks into song on the spur of the moment. If she is not happy with something, she will start singing about it. This allowed me to explore my singing skills more,” she says.
Apart from this play, Palomi has also acted in ‘Gandhi of the Month’, an Indo-US film which will be releasing the US shortly.
Speaking about Sunil Shanbag, the director of ‘Club Desire’, she says, “Sunil is a great director and he instils so much confidence in his actors. His roles are exciting and by the end of the performance, you become like the characters. I am also acting in ‘Marriology’, another play by Sunil. I hope to come back to Goa soon with another play.”
Besides doing numerous advertisements, theatre and films, Palomi, who received a special mention at the 62nd National Film Awards, also enjoys watching films. “I watch a lot of films; I don't miss anything that hits the theatres. My friends don't ask me for reviews of films any more because, for me, every film is good. There are certain stories and characters that will appeal to me in every film,” she concludes.