Back with a bang

Konkona Sen Sharma is one actress who has broken barriers in her choice of roles. Her recent release based on the 2008 Noida double murder case, Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar, has blown the dust over the controversial whodunit. It has forced audiences to do a rethink, something which has won praise for the makers and the actors. Konkona was keen to portray a character based on Nupur Talwar, a mother convicted of murdering her teen daughter. And she brought the right amount of shock and sensitivity to her portrayal. “With Vishal Bhardwaj as the writer and producer and Meghna as the director, I was confident that the subject would be dealt with sensitivity. Even the actors are credible people like Neeraj Kabi (based on Rajesh Talwar’s character) and Irrfan (based on CBI officer Arun Kumar),” she says.

Konkona, who has worked before with Vishal in acclaimed projects like Omkara, Saat Khoon Maaf and Ek Thi Daayan, believes he’s a non-interfering filmmaker. “He hardly came on the set and let Meghna do her work. He wrote the film and did the music, so his contribution has been invaluable,” says she. Konkona insists that working with great actors elevates her own performance. “I had loved Neeraj Kabi as the monk in Ship of Theseus. Neeraj is gentle and has a twinkling sense of humour. Initially, I used to be intimidated because he remained in his own zone. I am shy as well. Once during the shoot, Neeraj and I had to take a road trip from Delhi to Haridwar. That’s when we bonded and had the best time. We were laughing, reading, playing games, making up stories.” As far as Irrfan is concerned, Konkona has worked with him before in Anurag Basu’s Life In A Metro. “He has become an international superstar but he’s so humble, regular and laidback. He still has the same make-up man and assistant since Metro!”

Konkona has two projects in her kitty post Talvar. She’s just finished Prakash Jha’s Lipstick Wale Sapne directed by Alankrita Shrivastava where she plays a traditional burqa-clad Muslim woman Shirin Aslam. “It is about four women in Bhopal and how their life intersects.” She’s also completing AR Murugadoss’ Akira, a remake of the Tamil film Mouna Guru, along with Sonakshi Sinha. “I play a pregnant cop in Akira!” she giggles. “Poor Sonakshi had to do a lot of stunts. But luckily, I didn’t have to do all that. It was a pleasure to work with her. She’s open and easygoing. Also, AR Murugadoss is the kind of person who blends into the background and doesn’t attract any attention. But when you start shooting, he’s all there,” she says.

Her last film, Ananth Narayan Mahadevan’s biopic Gour Hari Dastaan - The Freedom File, on the real-life Oriya freedom fighter Gour Hari Das, was the first movie she had signed after her son Haroon was born. Konkona was surprised when she was offered the role of a much older lady, Gour Hari Das’ 65-year-old wife Laxmi Das. “The challenge was to play someone double my age. The movie had an excellent cast and crew. Plus, we had a brilliant cast in the form of Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Saurabh Shukla.” But despite such stellar names, the movie failed to perform at the box-office. “It’s tough to say what went wrong. It’s all about how the audience responds. Some films work, some don’t. Every film has its own destiny.”

She reveals it was great working with husband Ranvir. “We had a lovely time on the set. It was an easy and quick shoot.” Few days back, Ranvir and she took to Twitter to announce their separation. Both of them also conveyed their decision to co-parent their four-year-old son. Probe her further about that issue and she says succinctly, “We wanted to announce it once and for all formally. Otherwise, there is a lot of unnecessary speculative writing that takes place. We wanted a public platform to announce it. That’s all that I have to say about this subject.” Motherhood, she says, has not changed her as a person. “My values, ethics and worldview remain the same. But there’s a certain depth in my perspective now. You get to explore a new aspect of life post motherhood. I’m more patient now. Though I sleep a little less than I used to,” she laughs.

Mention her mother, veteran Bengali filmmaker and actress Aparna Sen and she says, “We’ve always been more like friends. My upbringing has been liberal, progressive and bohemian. Even today I can tell her things with ease that I’d think twice about before telling people my age. We regard each other as individuals and then as mother and daughter.” The mother-daughter duo has worked in acclaimed projects like Mr. & Mrs. Iyer which won Konkona a National Film Award for Best Actress. “The preparation in Mr & Mrs Iyer was so thorough that it was a breeze to shoot. All of us knew exactly what we were doing. She is a hard taskmaster and has tremendous energy. Her scripts are well-written, researched and has fleshed out characters. We have occasional hiccups or arguments which may or may not spill over to work but those are minor.” She even reveals that they were contemplating a Mr & Mrs Iyer sequel but for various reasons that didn’t take off. She reveals that they recently finished an 82-minute film Saari Raat together. It was part of Zee’s Peace Project, which aims to bring together filmmakers, cultural exponents and thought leaders of India and Pakistan on a platform to facilitate peace and harmony. Along with Konkona, it also starred Anjan Dutt and Rittwik Chakraborty. It was showcased at film festivals including the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival this September. Konkona has even donned the hat of a scriptwriter with Death In A Gunj and hopes to turn director with her first screenplay. “ It’s difficult to raise funds for a non-mainstream movie plus It’s going to be a long and difficult journey.”

She had three Bengali releases this year. “I’d rather do a good Bengali film rather than a mediocre Hindi one. I did Saibal Mitra’s Shajarur Kanta (The Porcupine’s Quill) based on a Byomkesh Bakshi story. Suman Ghosh’s Kadambari has been satisfying. We even had a screening at the Parliament. It’s about Kadambari Devi, Rabindranath Tagore’s sister-in-law, who was his muse. They had a questioned and commented upon relationship and she committed suicide four months after Tagore got married. The third one is Suman Mukhopadhyay’s Shesher Kobita opposite Rahul Bose, an adaptation of Tagore’s iconic novel of the same name. All three have been received well.”