Rachana Banerjee wants to work with Sidhant

Recently actress Rachana Banerjee gave an exclusive interview to TOI during her shoot for a bengali movie “Sonali Parer Rohoshyo” at Puri. It’s been 10 years since Rachna Banerjee shot in Odisha. Now, she is all set to stage a comeback in Tollywood. Excerpts from that interview with Rachana:

How does it feel to be shooting in Odisha on your comeback trail in Tollywood?

It feels great. People of Odisha love me and I’ve got innumerable offers from Ollywood after I quit doing movies there. My husband and son are based in Kolkata and I needed to set my priorities right. Now that my kid is five years old, I am ready to take up offers. I will be shooting in Puri for 10 days. Having done 50 films in Odisha, I know every bylane in Puri. My son, Praneel, might also go along with me for two or three days.

Since you are shooting in Odisha now, wouldn’t you be open to Ollywood offers?

I will do movies that revolve around me. If people can come down to shoot in Kolkata, I am game. Or else, offer me a role of substance that will require me to shoot in Odisha for 10 days or so.

Looking back, do you think it was right for you to quit Ollywood at the peak of your career?

Among the 50 Odia films that I have done, 40 of them were with Siddhant Mohapatra. They were super duper hits and ran for over 100 days each. Back then, there was no other hero in Ollywood apart from Siddhant. There came a point in my personal life, when I decided that I wouldn’t be able to work with him any more. Since there was no other hero in Ollywood, I had to leave that industry. Although I had the maximum number of hits with Bumbada (Prosenjit Chatterjee) in Tollywood, he was also working with other heroines. So, in Tollywood, I never got a hero to form a jodi like the way I had in Ollywood.

Are you in talking terms with Siddhant?

We are not in talking terms any more but if I bump into him, I will wear a smile.

Is it possible for ex-lovers to work professionally later on?

Of course, they can. We need a gap of a few years to do that. After that, one can move on in life. If someone asks me to work with Siddhanth now, I will forget everything as if I had amnesia. I will love to work with him.

Won’t your hubby have a problem?

My hubby knows everything that happened between us and he is okay with it.