mouli, rohit & ronit

Tadka dal move over... macher jhol is here and how! This is not a restaurant menu we're talking about. Rather, it's telly prime-time that's choc-a-bloc with Bengali actors.

Traditionally, the TV industry was packed with North Indians — primarily those who could speak fluent Hindi. Considering there's no separate dubbing in TV serials, as is the case with movies, fluency in the language with the right diction, is a prerequisite.

But when it comes to Bengalis, conventionally, one doesn't expect a flawless Hindi diction. However, the bong brigade seems to be managing well.

The Bengali invasion began with Roopa Ganguly and Debashree Roy in Mahabharata years ago and later there was Indrani Haldar, who played Ma Shakti. Now the current bunch of actors are Sangeeta Ghosh, Moulli Ganguly, Jaya Bhattacharya, Nivedita Bhattacharya, Anupam Bhattacharya, Kamalika Guha Thakurta, Sushmita Mukherjee, Maninee De, Mun Mun and Rupali Ganguly. Not to forget, brothers Ronit and Rohit Roy.

While for some (like Jaya Bhattacharya) being born and brought up in Lucknow helped, where language was concerned, some others have had to work very hard. Like Moulli Ganguly, who came to Mumbai from Kolkata, admits that it wasn't easy at all, "During my shoots, I used to sit with a pen like a little school girl and underline the 'ka's' and 'ki's'. Diction wasn't a problem, but grammar was. And in my serial Kahiin Kissi Roz, there was a time when we would complete 14 to 15 shots a day. But, I managed. Today, I am a lot more confident."

Ronit and Rohit Roy are glad they had close family friends who were from north India. "That's how we speak the language comfortably," says Rohit. "For TV serials, you need that. I see a lot of people struggle before the camera."
😃 😃