New Delhi: Aakanksha Singh who plays cop Aratrika Bhowmick in Netflix series Khakee: The Bengal Chapter, is receiving all the love from Bengal. Her DM is flooded with messages from fans appreciating her performance. The 34-year-old actor from Jaipur shares the screen with Bengali stalwarts such as Prosenjit Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee, and Subhasish Mukherjee and had to perfect her accent before the shoot.
“Initially they were auditioning for Bengali speaking actors for my role. But the casting director Vicky Sidana had seen some of my work, and I got in because the makers decided they would rather have a performer who can do the part well, and the language is not mandatory,” said Singh. The actor did workshops and had a tutor to perfect her Bengali pronunciation.
The seven-episode series is created by Neeraj Pandey, who also directed and produced Khakee: The Bihar Chapter (2022), based on IPS officer Amit Lodha’s book, Bihar Diaries: The True Story of How Bihar’s Most Dangerous Criminal Was Caught.
“I decided early on not to stick to a language or medium but to be true to the kind of variety I get in roles. Having said that, I was also nervous while making my Telugu debut, both the language and culture (intimidated me). However, with time, it turned out to be a fruitful learning experience,” said Singh.
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter is also a story of crime, corruption, and law enforcement and is set in Kolkata of the 2000s.
Singh plays a seemingly honest police officer, rallying behind her boss to arrest the criminals terrorising the city. However, she secretly ensures that the raids conducted on illegal businesses run by the crime lord Bagha (Saswata Chatterjee) are never successful.
Her character is part of the Special Investigative Team (SIT) set up first under Deputy Commissioner of Police Saptarishi Sinha (played by Parambrata Chatterjee), and later under IPS Arjun Maitra (played by Jeet).
“My character is the sutradhar of the story, and when the trajectory of the story changes, you finally know who had been sharing the information with the criminals,” said Singh.
Singh spent 30 days in Kolkata for the shoot of the web series, which shows how Bhowmick gets caught up in the corruption web of minister Barun Roy (Prosenjit Chatterjee), and starts working for him within Kolkata police.
Breaking away from the mould
Listing the challenges she faced playing this role, Singh said “it took a lot of work to perfect the stance and aura that one would associate with a cop, especially with being the only female cop in the team. I had never done anything like this before.”
The actor has also worked in Telugu films and an OTT show. Singh made her Telugu film debut with Malli Raava (2017), for which she received a South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) nomination for Best Female Debut – Telugu.
“After 2013, it was a conscious decision to break away from the mould and do quality work, which is not repetitive. But it has been hard to land roles which are substantial, and I do wish the pace of my career had been faster. But I guess better late than never,” said Singh who started her television soap career with Colors’ Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha (2012).
The actor also admitted that at times she has found it difficult to convince makers about her versatility. Singh hopes Khakee will open new doors for her. “I have never looked at the length of my role, but I do hope after Khakee, I get to be the face of a show.”
Khakee: The Bengal Chapter has been trending on Netflix since its release on 20 March, and is the fourth most watched show across streaming platforms with 3.6 million views.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)
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