Nandita Das - The Lady with Substance

Nandita Das - her acting potential and her films - is acclaimed not just in India but internationally also. She epitomizes the young Indian woman who fights against injustice in the social set up in her own ways and tries to make people conscious of the practices that have to be changed. Through her movies and unusual roles that she has done on big screen, she tries to bring forth the unnoticed problems, emotions and confusions of human beings.

It was through an Oriya movie Parinati(1996) that Nandita Das made silver screen entry. But she really got noticed for the controversial film Fire directed by Deepa Mehta. As Sita in that movie, she portrays a homosexual character without inhibitions. Convincingly, she enacts the character of this woman bounded by quandaries and family pressure, whose desires are ignored by her partner. Her sister-in-law becomes her companion in this confused state as she also goes through the same situation. The need for companionship make them accept their relation and to start living together.

She has been associated with movies that made a difference, which depicted the old conservative in a different manner. Her degree in social work and the experience with a lot of NGOs has made her understand society and other systems better. Her characters - some of them being Sanwari, Sajani, Kannaki, Nandini Mitra, Shanta, Shyama - capture various emotions of a woman. Many of her films are based on problems and have complex themes.

She was deeply affected by 2002 Gujarat riots - the way it changed lives of people belonging to several religions and also reactions from people all over the country. By connecting many accounts related to the riots in Gujarat, she made with Firaaq, her directorial debut. The film narrates lives of various individuals who have lost their dear ones, who set out find their loved ones and who are traumatized by the riot. This movie got best film and best screenplay awards in many international and national award functions.

Nandita Das has acted in Malayalam, Oriya, Hindi, English, Kannada, Telugu, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi and Tamil and won awards for her performance. She was lucky to act in movies of established filmmakers like Deepa Mehta, Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mani Ratnam and Mrinal Sen. In addition to acting she is also actively involved in bringing about the change in society and often takes classes on violence against women, child problems and on AIDS. She heads Children's Film Society of India.

Nandita Das is the daughter of famous artist Jatin Das and writer Varsha. Hailing from New Delhi, she got associated with theatre after completing her studies, besides teaching at a school. She tied the knot with Subodh Maskara and they have a son named Vihaan.

To get more information on Nandita Das and movies trailers go to Doctorflix.