Anurag Kashyap’s unapologetically dark film Ugly opened to nearly thumping reviews. “This has come at a time when I am not really moving around much or visiting cinema halls to see the audience reaction first hand,” says actress Tejaswini Kolhapure, who is expecting her child due in February.
Tejaswini’s portrayal of an alcoholic mother involved in a bad marriage has got her noticed after a long time. “In terms of prominence of role, screen time and visibility, it has been a long wait,” she concedes.
She was part of Anurag Kashyap’s first directorial Paanch , regarded by critics as his finest work. For various reasons, Paanch remained confined to festival circuits and special screenings and never released commercially. Tejaswini later featured in a segment of the anthology-film Mumbai Cutting , took up projects like Salt and Pepper , Tequila Nights and Boys Toh Boys Hai but her aim to reach out to a larger audience didn’t materialise.
Not even through Mani Ratnam’s Raavan , for which she shot for 75 days, only to find her role chopped to a blink-and-miss appearance.
“Anurag and I have been in touch,” says Tejaswini. A few years ago he offered her a role in Gulaal , but she declined since it was a brief one. In 2011, she met Anurag for a casual conversation and discussed cinema and her work in theatre. A week later, Anurag called and told her about a prospective film in which he wanted her to work. At the time, he was leaving for Cannes. On returning, he announced Ugly and signed her for the role. “We were supposed to begin shooting in 2011, but it began rather late in 2012,” she says.
Meanwhile, she read up graphic novels and watched international films suggested by Anurag. She doesn’t remember the names of the films and the novels but says, “One of the novels had the character of an alcoholic housewife. My character is more subdued compared to that character which is on the wilder side.” On the sets, spontaneous discussions and improvisations happened. “Since I know Anurag for years, I could discuss anything with him. I asked him a lot of questions about my character.”
To bring the frustration of a woman caught in a bad marriage, Anurag asked her to relive the annoying moments of waiting for Paanch to release. For a few sequences, she also downed some hard liquor to emote better. “It helped to trigger a few reactions. For a scene in which I had to completely break down, the alcohol effect helped,” she says.
The ghosts of Paanch nearly came back to haunt her when she learnt about Anurag’s unrelenting stance against the ‘No Smoking’ disclaimer rule of the Censor Board. “ Ugly was supposed to release last October and when it got delayed, I thought ‘not again’.”
Looking back, Tejaswini is glad she did plays such as All About Women and Beauty, Brains and Personality when cinema didn’t offer her much to hold on to. She doesn’t indulge in a blame game but the disappointment is hard to miss when she talks about Raavan . “I got a hint that my role wouldn’t be big when we (a few other supporting actors who eventually got a raw deal) were called to the sets and would sit around waiting for our turn. Since I had already committed my dates I didn’t want to walk out,” she says.
It’s too early, says Tejaswini, to know if her performance in Ugly will translate to more mainstream filmmakers looking her way. “I am looking forward to getting back to work a few months after the delivery,” she says.
