"One of the wishes from my bucket list has been ticked off," beams Patralekhaa who recently wrapped up the Pradeep Sarkar-directed venture, Arranged Marriage. Her first collaboration with the auteur sees her play a married Bengali woman living in Kolkata. Interestingly, the actor, who plays a "docile" girl in the Ali Fazal starrer, found the perfect muse in the late Madhubala, who had essayed similar roles in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) and Tarana (1951).

"My character is a timid girl and I couldn't think of a better reference point than Madhubala. I watched her old films to pick up her mannerisms," says Patralekhaa. Given that the veteran actor was famed as much for her beauty as for her style, it is no surprise that Patralekhaa also borrowed from her sartorial sensibilities.