Celina Jaitly is coming back to films after 15 years, and doing it with a role she says feels less like acting and more like a calling.
The 44-year-old actress is set to play Sister Nivedita in an upcoming biopic directed by Ram Kamal Mukherjee.
It is a full-fledged lead role, her first in a decade and a half, and as she talks about it, this one clearly means something different to her.
Speaking to Hindustan Timesthe Golmaal Returns actress said working with the director has been unlike anything she’s experienced before.
“Working with a visionary filmmaker like Ram is unlike any other acting experience for me. With directors of his calibre, you don’t merely perform a character, you surrender yourself to becoming the soul of that era,” she said.
And on what it means to play the character, she said, “Portraying Sister Nivedita feels less like a role and more like answering a calling.”
What makes this even more interesting is that Celina’s connection to Sister Nivedita goes way back, to childhood, actually. Her father was posted in Binaguri, West Bengal, and the family would often travel to Darjeeling. One of their regular stops was Roy Villa, where Sister Nivedita spent her final days.
The Khel actor recalled, “I had no idea that one day, far in the future, I would be the chosen one. I now feel perhaps it was Sister Nivedita herself calling this young girl who studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya.”
She added, “What moves me most about Sister Nivedita is that she was not born in India, yet she chose India in every fiber of her being. She dedicated herself completely to a civilisation, its people, its spiritual philosophy, and above all, its mission. She merely didn’t admire India, she lived for India.”
Sister Nivedita, born Margaret Noble in Ireland in 1867, first met Swami Vivekananda in London before eventually travelling to India, where she devoted her life to education, women’s empowerment and social service.
No release date has been announced yet.
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