Konkona Sen Sharma on the way behind her acting and her preference for unconventional roles

Last December, two-time National Film Award winner Konkona Sen Sharma won Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Asian Academy Creative Awards for her portrayal of a Dalit factory worker in a short film. wet pooch from netflix anthology funny story , Through a host of notable characters, wet pooch Aditi Rao Hydari, directed and co-starring Neeraj Ghaywan, chronicles the painful ways in which caste, class and gender hinder a lesbian woman’s journey to love, respect and livelihood.

A few weeks later, over the phone, I spoke to Konkona and we discussed her role. wet pooch , her acting, how she chooses her films, and her thoughts on freedom of expression. Edited excerpt:

What is the latest award for your performance in wet pooch mean to you?

I was so thrilled when I heard about it. It was on my birthday, so it felt like a little gift from the universe. But when I work, I don’t think about winning awards. Actually, I am not even thinking about how much people are going to like the film. These are completely out of my control. So, if I’ve liked it and found a reason to do it – be it because of the script, or the part, or the director – that’s satisfying to me. In this sense, rewards and praise are really a bonus, an icing on the cake.

Sometimes, one makes films for very little money or because you think it is important to do so despite knowing that the commercial potential of the film is limited. It’s great when you act with your conviction and then, once the film is appreciated, it gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Can you talk about Bharti Mandal? What interested you in the role?

I wanted to work with Neeraj Ghaywan and I knew this even before I read the script and got in touch with me. I had seen Masan, which I really enjoyed, and Juice, His short film with Shefali Shah, which I adore.

Then I read the script and it was a very unusual role for me. I have been acting since childhood, and I have never come across a story like this. The screenplay was well written. There were little details that showed that the character was well thought out. Outside of this, I found that the way the story unfolded was very powerful, like a neat revenge tale.

It’s nice to be able to speak up for people whose voices aren’t heard as much. Often, our heroes are the default characters in the sense that they are almost always able-bodied, Hindu, upper-caste, or girl-next-door. It’s rare to find well-characterized characters coming from communities that aren’t talked about or often represented on screen.

You have played some difficult and unusual roles – a rebel ( lipstick under my burqawoman suffering from mental illness ( 15 Park Avenue), a homosexual and a downtrodden ( wet poochWhat attracted you to these roles?

I think it’s just a reflection of my personality. I’m not sure how else to answer this as I probably don’t know about it myself. I am interested in the little subtleties, in the nuances, and in the things that are not talked about; I am interested in what is not mainstream; I’m interested in dark, unexplored places. Not that it’s always reflected in my career; Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn’t.

How do you bring out the inner voice/character of the women you portray. How do you make his voice sound so admirable?

I think it depends. If the role you are playing is culturally, geographically, socially, economically far away from you, you may need to do more research to find out the character’s environment. For example, if I’m playing someone who is an urban professional, I probably don’t need to do as much research.

On the other hand, I feel very strongly that everything is already inside of us. I feel there is an Indian inside me. I feel that somewhere there is a man inside me too. Unlike judging character, it’s helpful to understand character from a place of empathy, and I try to find that person in myself and the people around me. I try to find someone not because I’m going to be like them, but just to have some kind of context.

Sometimes I alter my reality to suit my character’s needs. I have caught myself doing this intentionally. For example, if I needed to be stressed for my character and I had a mildly stressful situation in real life that didn’t affect me that much, I let it affect me because I know I can use that emotion. need to.

I think we are all the same in the sense that we all go through feelings of love, loss and betrayal. It is part of the human condition, and we go through it for various reasons. I mean I can’t get angry for the same reasons as Bharti, but I have known righteous anger in my life. I know the loss. But it is not a very conscious process, a lot of it is spontaneous.

wet pooch Powerfully tackled caste and gender based discrimination. These are issues that filmmakers and OTT platforms are quite wary of and wary of portraying. Can you describe the value of freedom of expression in a society like ours?

Freedom of expression is one of the most important rights given to us by our constitution. However, I don’t always feel that freedom. Suddenly out of nowhere there may be an FIR against you, or maybe people have committed a crime at the drop of a hat, and they want to ban this or that.

I am not in favor of censorship at all. You can disagree with something, but you don’t have to participate in it; You can argue about it, but you can’t stop watching and watching it.

The amazing thing about the first OTT platform was that there was no censorship. This allowed you to experiment with content and format. You can have a mini-series, an anthology, a short film, a documentary. But now there is censorship and it is very unfortunate. We are such a big country, and we cannot expect everyone to have the same values. People have their own customs, traditions, cultures, and we must respect diversity of thought and expression.

If you didn’t become an actor, which career path would you choose?

Then I didn’t know what I would do. I simply assumed that I would find a regular job somewhere, perhaps in journalism, publishing or advertising.

The author is a freelance journalist.