Meet debutant Shahana Chatterjee, ready to burst into the wide screen, through Lovesongs, Yesterday, Today directed by her father Jayabrato Chatterjee where she plays the role of Jaya Bachchan's daughter.

Armed with a post-graduate degree in Theatre of Development at the University of East Anglia, UK, with distinction, Shahana is itching to make a mark on the celluloid screen.

The film, in Banglish, that is Bengali mixed with English, is readying for its all-India premiere by March-end.

Shahana's is a dramatic role with volatile shades in the love-hate relationship between a single, activist mother and her rebellious daughter.

Excerpts of an interview:

Your parents are not into acting though your father directed his first film Kehkesha 23 years ago. What, then, made you opt for acting as a career?
My father's mother, Mira Chatterjee, was an actor in Santiniketan. She worked with Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and played Rani Lokeshwari in Notir Pooja and Rani Sudarshana in Raktakarabi.

Perhaps the acting genes skipped a generation! It is true that neither of my parents are 'actors' but my father had directed his Kehkashaa when I was very young and many documentaries, thereafter.

I have practically grown up on his sets and in the studios where he worked. I would do my homework in a corner of an editing suite! I have enjoyed performing on stage right from my school days.

When Baba decided to make Lovesongs: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, I happened to be at the right place at the right time.

How did you flesh out the character of the perennially confused, frustrated and disillusioned Palaash in Lovesongs...?
As it is my father's film, I was involved in the making right from the point when he began to write the screenplay. Much of Palaash's outbursts and tantrums stem from a deep-seated insecurity and were a ploy to gain her mother's attention.

By the time we started shooting, I had literally lived with my character under the same roof for several months and felt I knew her very closely. I understood Palaash's psychology very well and recognised what made her behave the way she did.

Rebellion was her way of trying to draw attention to herself, mainly from her mother who, she was convinced, didn't love her. Jaya-di playing my mother, a woman poles apart from what her daughter turns out to be, was a great help.

It wasn't too difficult to build Palaash's character as most of the raw material that I needed was already in the script. One has to read between the lines as well.

I approached the character from an emotional angle and found myself empathising with her. I consider it a great honour to have had the opportunity of working with Jaya- di in my first film.

Did your father allow you to interpret the character?
Much of the discussions happened long before shooting began. Facing the camera was smooth sailing. Other than the technicalities of acting before the camera, I really didn't have to face other points in direction.

My father was very democratic. We often improvised while keeping the essence of the scene intact. Jaya-di was totally involved yet gave her suggestions freely.

What kinds of roles do you looking forward to?
Given a choice, I would look for characters that allow me to take up new and challenging journeys of self-discovery; characters that give me the opportunity to undertake new and challenging journeys of self- discovery.

You have been involved with the Themba HIV-AIDS Forum Theatre Project in Johannesburg. What was it all about?
Themba is a youth theatre project in Johannesburg that uses Forum Theatre.

This is a genre of interactive theatre created by the Brazilian writer-director and activist Augusto Boal to spread HIV/AIDS awareness messages among youth groups, parents, teachers and community leaders. It trains young people to be actor-activists.

They call themselves amaqabane edutainers. Amaqabane means 'friend' in Zulu. Forum Theatre works primarily in townships in and around Johannesburg.

I went there on an academic placement during my Masters in Theatre & Development for my dissertation. It involved a comparative study of the use and application of Forum Theatre in Themba.

A girl-child welfare programme in Ahmedabad called Vidya also uses Forum Theatre to propagate its issues in the slums of Ahmedabad.

Have studies and research abroad in two highly different countries such as England and South Africa widened the horizons of your experience?
Absolutely. My 'degree' was only a part, of course, an important part, of the education I received in UK. The School of Development Studies was like a global village with students from all parts of the world.

Some of them had worked in development for years in their own countries. Interacting with my classmates was a great learning experience.

We had visiting faculty specialised in development theatre from Europe, India and Africa. In South Africa I found a lot of commonality with India in terms of community and family structures. But many differences as well.

Do you believe that the environment he or she is brought up in essentially shapes an actor?
You are either an actor or you are not. I feel environment certainly shapes one's attitude. But one can't discount the role that natural talent plays.

I have great respect for yesteryear actors like Meena Kumari and Madhubala who had to work from scratch and made it big. I respect them for their body of work.

It is primarily their talent and determination that has made them scale the heights they did in their respective careers and a conducive childhood environment had nothing to do with it.