I live with my characters: Paoli Dam

Having played the character of a tomboy in her upcoming film "Family Album", actress Paoli Dam recalls how difficult it was for her to come out of the shell during the shooting of her next projects.
"To portray my role with masculine traits in Mainak's (Bhowmik) Family Album, I watched how men walked, posed, talked amusing the male members of my family, friends and unit members. They all presumed Paoli has gone mad," Paoli told PTI.
The 34-year-old actress recalled how actor Prosenjit Chatterjee, her co-star on a film after "Family Album", teased her for retaining the manly gait from her tomboy character.

"So when the shooting got over and we started for the next film by Kamaleswar Mukherjee where I am paired with Prosenjit Chatterjee, at times both the director and Bumbada (Prosenjit) jokingly said how I was still walking in a manly gait. I immediately corrected myself," she said.
Coming to "Family Album" and her character, Paoli said, "Mine and Swastika (Mukherjee)'s character are portrayed as best friends who fall back on each other in moments of crisis. She is more coy and I am of a tomboy kind. And thus we complement each other. There is no other element to it. No physicality," she said.

When asked if the two wanted to outdo each other during shoots as powerful actors, Paoli said, "There was no such rivalry and we bonded well as two women usually do. We were two friends who chatted in between shots and that comfort level was visible during scenes."

"So it is not mine or Swastika's film, it is a beautiful story about human relationships scripted by the director who cast us and others like Riya (Sen) and Ronodev Bose. It is a team game."
Paoli, who has also completed shooting for "Black Coffee", "Prime Time" and "Natoker Mato", says perhaps directors have the hunch that she loved playing strong characters, vulnerable at times but normally resilient and determined.

About her number of Tollywood releases this year, Paoli said, "Yes, 'Parapaar' by Sanjay Nag, then 'Ajana Batas' and now the upcoming films. But with a little space between every release, the audience will never be tired of seeing me in different avatars."
"Family Album" releases on May 29.