Bengali actress Ritabhari Chakraborty, whose recent short film Naked has gone viral on the internet, says that the film is not against men, it stands for women.  

The film Naked features Ritabhari as Ria, a journalist and National Award winning actress Kalki Koechlin as Sandy, a popular actress. As per the plot, a scene from Sandy’s film goes viral on the internet as a sex clip and the same day she gets interviewed by Ria. The interview session is the crux of the film.

Ritabhari expressed that since they (she and Kalki) have talked about bold matters on screen, they were worried about the response of people.

She said to Tellychakkar.com, “Kalki and I were worried about how men and women would perceive it. We haven’t compromised on the concept. But we were surprised to see the amazing response. We thought it would be fifty/fifty but the positive response is 90 percent.”

The actress also firmly said that the film is not against men.

She mentioned, “Some people thought that it’s a film against men. Any intelligent person would understand that it’s not a morcha against men. The film is about women standing for women. If a woman prefers to wear a burqa, it’s completely her choice. Similar is the case with a woman, who is comfortable in a bikini.”

Talking about her experience of working with Kalki, she shared, “I am a big fan of hers. She is a brilliant actress. She is a darling. C’mon she is a National Award winning actress who has been part of both commercial as well as cult films like Shanghai, Ek Thi Daayan, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani…I was awestruck and kept looking at her.”

“And she is a crazy, wonderful, beautiful and a co-operative co-actress to work with. Even after suffering from dengue, she invested a lot of time to rehearse with me. She is a brilliant woman and I got to learn a lot from her,” she added.

When asked to share her view on short films, she opined, “It’s a strong medium. Digital media is beyond any barrier and limitation. Before launching a film or TV show, you might have to go through certain politics or you might have to bribe someone. But in case of such films, which you can launch on digital platform, the hassle is less and the reach is more. I believe in the future, people will make full length short films.”   

Before teaming up with Kalki for Naked, Ritabhari had worked with Ayushmann Khurrana in a music video. So, when we asked her whether she is enjoying the national exposure and if she would be interested to work in Bollywood films and Hindi serials, she answered, “No matter what the language is, it’s a big NO to television shows now. However, I am open to any good film.”

Talking about her upcoming projects, she said, “There are a few projects in the pipeline in various languages like Bengali, Hindi and English. I would like to talk about them once the shooting of the projects are complete.”

Great going, Ritabhari!  

The actress earlier has been part of Bengali films like Chotushkone, Onyo Apalaa and Colkatay Columbus.