Divya Dutt on Manto: Nandita's acting history made her a better director

Divya Dutta

National Award-winning actor Divya Dutta has a slate of films up for release this year, most of which see her slipping into roles that are far distanced from each other. As she awaits the release of her next, Nandita Das' directorial venture, Manto, the actor credits the latter for taking on the directorial baton with panache.

Nandita Das

The Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer - based on the life of the poet Saadat Hasan Manto - sees Divya Dutta as a character of one of the short stories penned by the revered writer. With this short, Thanda Ghost, being brought to life in Manto, Dutta's role required her to pull off a few erotic sequences. She tells mid-day, "The fun part about working with a director, who is also an actor, is that she has seen it all, and treats her actors accordingly. There was a certain sensitivity and understating that was needed in this film, since it is a bold and hard-hitting story. She brought that in her direction and treatment with the cast. In fact, she even asked me if I was comfortable shooting the bold sequences. And I was, because I had faith in her."

Anil Kapoor

Up next, Dutta will be seen playing wife to Anil Kapoor in debutant director Atul Manjrekar's Fanne Khan, which also features Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Rajkummar Rao. Asserting that she plays the catalyst that bridges the gap between a father and his daughter in the musical drama, the actor celebrates uniting with Kapoor for the big screen. "He would look at his as well as my lines, because acting is about reactions, and he wanted to know how he could react to my lines. This dedication is encouraging."

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