Exclusive! Ushasie Chakraborty: Lobbying and PR are more important qualities than the acting ability to bag a role in Tollywood

June auntie, aka Ushasie Chakraborty, is geared to debut on OTT with Indranil Roychowdhury’s Chhotolok on Zee5. While she did not divulge her character in the multi-starrer thriller, she expressed her excitement. “This is going to be a very good project. I play the character of a post and elite woman who is a chartered accountant by profession. I cannot talk a lot about the character yet,” she said. With Priyanka Sarkar, Gourab Chakrabarty, Daminee Basu, Indrani Halder, Ushasi Ray, and others in the lead, the series will be dropped in a couple of months on Zee5. 

Meanwhile, June auntie is also preparing for a television comeback. “After June Auntie became popular and especially after Shreemoyee got over, I had offers from almost all the leading TV channels. However, I took a break as I was completing a course on psychology. After this course, I will be a trailed counsellor. This is because I want to work with underprivileged people. I want them to have more access to mental health. Now that the course is over, I want to get back to TV. I got a few offers but I had to say no either because of the remuneration disagreement or the character. I am sure something will begin this year,” she said. 

But why just TV? Did she not get any offer on film or OTT? “Lobbying and PR are more important qualities than the acting ability to bag a role in Tollywood and I am not really great in those qualities. Dedication towards your craft is not mandatory, sufficient, or even necessary to get an offer for a film. I’ll give you an example. After working under several big banners and successfully portraying June Auntie, one of the honchos of the largest OTT platform in Bengal asked me if I could actually perform on the OTT platform. It came to me as a surprise that even after so many years of experience, I am asked if I could do my job well!” told the actress. 

Ushasie has a parallel career in academics. However, she considers her degrees as a bane. “No one in the industry likes smart and intelligent women. I have constantly been asked why I would like to work in the acting profession when I had my PhD degree. I am tired of answering this question,” she said. 

Meanwhile, she has always been engaged in social activities. Does that come from her left-leaning political affiliation? “I have a political stand and I always felt it is important to work towards a better society. You don’t need to contest an election if you want to work for people. I never joined politics because I had little time. When I get ample time to offer to this field, I might,” Ushasie said.