Talent hunt shows on TV have often been a stepping stone for many youngsters looking to make a career in the glamour industry. Ankita Das is one of them. She landed a lead role in the film Mitha Mitha after winning the talent hunt show, Mitha Mitha Jodi. A commerce graduate from Rama Devi University, Ankita is also an Odissi dancer. Besides, her music video Mo shurila shayari tu has so far earned more than six million views. Mana Khali Tate Chahen and Ishqwala Love are Ankita’s upcoming films. Orissa POST recently met the young actress.
“We were shooting for Ishqwala Love at the Ganesh +2 Science College campus in Bhubaneswar. A fight scene involving the hero was being filmed while I was waiting for my turn. At this point, about 50 students of the institute came to me and wanted to take selfies, but as students are not allowed to use mobile phones on campus, they asked me for autographs instead. I hesitated since it would take long, and so they requested me to give a big autograph on a sheet of paper, which, they said, they would photocopy and share among themselves,” says Ankita, smiling.
It was in 2015, when Ankita was in the second year of +3, that she took part in the TV show Mitha Mitha Jodi. The Ankita-Jyoti pair won the show and, as they had been promised, they were cast in the film Mitha Mitha. About her debut on the big screen, she says, “In the TV show, Srikant Goutam and Meghna Mishra were my mentors and taught me about acting while Rakesh and Jaya trained me in dance. In the TV show, I did what I knew. But, in the film, I found that I need to perform as per the requirements of the film. I had to follow the director’s instructions, also keeping in view the camera angle. My first shot in the film was a dance sequence. Since I was a newcomer, it took several takes before I managed an ‘ok’ shot.”
The name of the character she played in her first film, a romantic comedy, was also Ankita. “I played a sales girl. Besides the title track Heigala heigala prema mitha mitha, Jyoti and I were cast in another song Sun sun which was a hit.”
Following the release of her first film, she had gone for the rehearsal of an Odisha Film Producers’ Association’s event where she got offers for two other films. Ankita says, “I was rehearsing a dance when Nimai Ojha and Lubun-Tubun offered me the lead role in their films Mana Khali Tate Chahen and Ishqwala Love after seeing my dance skills.”
She adds, “My second film Mana Khali… dwells upon the struggles of a village girl. I play the protagonist and got ample scope to showcase my talent. I have several dramatic sequences as well as dance and romantic numbers. The late Anita Das played the role of my mother in the film. I have put in my best effort and hope the audience will like the film, which will release shortly.”
“In Ishqwala Love, I play a bubbly girl named Ankita. Four songs have been picturised on me, including dance numbers. It was tough to learn the dance steps of Lubun-Tubun, but once I did, I just loved them,” says the actress.
Besides films, Ankita has also featured in music albums. She was cast opposite Jay in a popular music solo of Tarang Music Mo shurila shayari tu. The video has so far earned more than six million views. Ankita trained in Odissi dance with Guru Shree Durgacharan Ranveer at his institution ‘Nrutyayana’ and received the national scholarship for three terms. She says, “I completed the five-year Odissi course from the Chandigarh Music University. I started learning Odissi when I was four years old and now know many items including Dasavatara, five or six types of mangalacharan, two sthayis, three pallavis, batu and mokshya.”
Daughter of BM Devi and Ashok Das of Bhubaneswar, Ankita passed HSC from St. Joseph High School. She did her plus two and graduation from RD Women’s University in Commerce and is now studying for M.Com. Her father is a businessman and mother a civil engineer at Coal India Ltd. And her brother is a business analyst in Bangalore.
Ankita describes her fitness routine. “I am not a gym rat, but do yoga and exercise regularly. And before the shoot day, I go on the GM diet for seven days. I am not a party animal.”
She continues, “My audience is my love. I love them and want the same from them.” Asked about the man of her dreams, she answers, simply, “He should be a good human being.”