By Subhash K Jha
Mumbai, Aug 1: Male prostitution is very much a part of the metropolitan underbelly. In the shockingly stark and authentic BA Pass, theatre actor Shadab Kamal plays a young man in Delhi who is sucked into the world of prostitution by a bored and adventurous housewife, played by Shilpa Shukla best known for her striking turn as the aggressive hockey player in Shimit Amin’s Chak De who tried to seduce coach Shah Rukh Khan in the locker room.
A Buddhist deeply attached to the Dalai Lama’s teaching , Shila had no qualms slipping into a role in BA Pass that was apparently rejected by several actresses including Richa Chadha
“It’s a part of the Delhi culture that is very alive . Bored rich housewives buy sex to pass their time. Cinema is not about playing it safe. And I certainly don’t want to play tried-and-tested characters. I was fascinated by this secret world of sexual promiscuity,” admits Shilpa.
The bold scenes in BA Pass where Shilpa is seen seducing and sexually manipulating the young boy reminds one of ‘Mrs Robinson’ Anne Bankcroft seducing the painfully young Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate.
But as Shilpa points out B A Pass goes into a far darker and sinister world. “My director Ajay Bahl spent a lot of time researching the subject. He really believed in the subject and produced the film entirely on his own with his own savings.”
Shilpa feels the film is a new beginning for her. “Last year I left Mumbai for good. Or so I thought. My father was unwell .When he passed away I returned to Mumbai,and then I lost my apartment in a fire. Since then I’ve been living a nomad’s life. Buddhism has taught me to be detached from worldly things. I view everything as transitory, and that includes success and failure.”
She says she’s excited about the role because it is unlike anything any leading actress had done before.
About the role being offered to Richa first Shilpa shrugs, “I was offered the role that Richa did in Gangs Of Wasseypur. So it’s all destiny. I couldn’t do what Richa did in Wasseypur. And I’d like to think no one could play the unfaithful housewife in BA Pass the way I did.”