Divya Dutta has revealed that a small, seemingly insignificant detail helped her find her way into the character of Sangeeta "Mrs. Puri" in Last Man In Tower: she deliberately kept her nail polish chipped. In an exclusive conversation with Hindi Movie Buzz, the actress explained that flawlessness would have felt false for a woman caught in the middle of a community being pulled apart by an offer to sell.
The film, directed by Ben Rekhi, released in Hindi cinemas on 11 September 2026. It runs 97 minutes and is classified as a drama. Manoj Bajpayee leads the cast as Yogesh "Masterji" Mishra, a retired schoolteacher whose refusal to fall in line with the people around him puts him at odds with his own neighbours. Divya Dutta plays Mrs. Puri, one of the residents whose choices come under scrutiny as the pressure builds. Boman Irani appears as Dharmen Shah, with Harish Khanna as Mr. Kothari, Sukant Goel as Gaurav Mishra, Chandan Roy Sanyal as Mr. Ajwani, Ujjwal Chopra as Mr. Puri and Jitarth as Bittu Puri.
A Chipped Manicure as a Character Clue
Dutta said the decision to leave her nails unevenly painted came from her reading of Sangeeta as someone juggling domestic duties and social expectations without much time for herself. A perfectly maintained manicure, she felt, would have signalled a composure the character does not actually possess. The chipped polish became a quiet signal of a life lived in a hurry, she added.
She described the role as an opportunity to portray an ordinary woman under extraordinary pressure rather than a villain or a victim. According to the actress, Mrs. Puri is neither heroic nor scheming; she is a person weighing what she stands to gain and what she stands to lose. Dutta said she focused on that ambivalence instead of making any single trait dominate the performance.
An Ordinary Woman at the Centre of a Moral Test
The film's premise places Masterji's act of quiet resistance against the tide of a neighbourhood considering change. His stance brings into relief the compromises made by those around him, including Mrs. Puri, as each resident decides what he or she is willing to hold on to. Dutta said the story interested her because it examines how people behave when a collective decision becomes a personal one. The offer of change, she noted, does not simply divide the building into good and bad people; it exposes the different calculations each of them is making.
She also spoke about working alongside Bajpayee, describing the set as a place where preparation was taken seriously. Dutta said scenes between Masterji and Mrs. Puri benefited from the restraint both performers brought, since the tension in the story comes from what is left unsaid as much as from what is spoken.
Rekhi Builds an Ensemble Around Restraint
Director Ben Rekhi assembles a large ensemble to populate the tower, and the cast list reads like a survey of dependable Hindi screen talent. Irani's Dharmen Shah represents the force pushing the offer forward, while Khanna, Goel, Roy Sanyal, Chopra and Jitarth fill out the households whose loyalties are tested. Dutta said the crowded nature of the material meant every actor had to be precise, because the film has limited room for extraneous gesture.
The actress declined to characterise the film's ending but suggested that viewers will leave debating what they themselves would have done in Mrs. Puri's position. That, she said, is the mark of a story worth telling.
Last Man In Tower is in Hindi and is a Bollywood production. Its current TMDb rating stands at 10/10. The film opened in theatres on 11 September 2026 and continues to draw attention for its portrait of a community at a crossroads.
Source: Filmibeat
