Plabita Borthakur is on a high. The 28-year-old actor has been receiving praise for her performance in Netflix’s Bombay Begums. She plays Ayesha Agarwal, a starry eyed 20-something small towner who dreams of being CEO some day. She has come to Mumbai with all her hopes and dreams in tow, but soon realises that making it big in this city of dreams isn’t a piece of cake. She wades through life battling the archaic notions surrounding single women in the big city, while discovering herself. Read our review of the series here.
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Plabita’s real-life story is somewhat similar to Ayesha. Born and raised in Duliajan, a tiny town in Assam, she moved to Mumbai in 2009 to try her luck in the film industry. Five years and a dozen TV commercials later she got her first break in Bollywood, a tiny role as Anushka Sharma’s sister in PK. It may have taken long, but her talent was to make a mark sooner or later. A string of impressive performances in thought-provoking cinema followed, and Plabita’s graph has been on the rise since. Here are three of her performances aside from Bombay Begums worth checking out.
‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’
It was this 2017 film by Alankrita Shrivastava that made the world sit up and notice Plabita. She played Rehana Abidi, a college-going teenager belonging to an orthodox Muslim family, who dreams of breaking free of her burkha-clad existence. She essentially leads an entirely different life outside of her home.
Creator: Alankrita Shrivastava
Cast: Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona Sensharma, Aahana Kumra, Plabita Borthakur
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
‘What’s Your Status’
This lighthearted web series revolves around three individuals who are in different phases of relationships — being single, committed and married. Much like herself, Plabita’s character Aisha also hails from Assam. She’s a bubbly, chatty collegian who believes in old school love.
Creator: Sandeep Balan
Cast: Manjot Singh, Naveen Polishetty, Abhay Mahajan, Plabita Borthakur
Streaming: YouTube, Jio Cinema
‘Breathe: Into The Shadows’
Abhishek Bachchan and Amit Sadh may have dominated the screen in Amazon’s psychological thriller, but Plabita makes an impact in the series with her role. She plays Meghna Verma, a handicapped girl who is always high on life. A freak accident resulted in her spending the rest of her life on her wheelchair, but she doesn’t let that affect her zest for life. Read our review of the show here.
Creator: Mayank Sharma
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Amit Sadh, Nithya Menen, Plabita Borthakur
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Plabita is also an independent musician and is part of a band called Manu and Chow. So far they have released a couple of original numbers and a music video called P.