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To catch a star: Konkona Sen
Rajeev Masand / CNN-IBN
Published on Sun, May 13, 2007 at 03:19, Updated on Wed, Jun 27, 2007 at 15:54 in Entertainment section
She's one of the finest actresses in the movies and for most part, she has stayed away from big budget, song and dance Hindi films, preferring to do smaller, more personal pictures. Her performances linger in your mind long after you have left the theatre. CNN-IBN Entertainment Editor Rajeev Masand spoke to Konkona Sen Sharma.
Rajeev Masand: You are now working with the Bombay movie industry. Do you feel like you belong?
Konkona Sen Sharma: No. But I feel like I don't belong because of the kind of person I am. I generally feel like an outsider. I am very comfortable in this outsider mould, which is a safe place to be in, frankly.
Rajeev Masand: But you have now started working with people from Bombay, actors, filmmakers and there's still not a sense of belonging?
Konkona Sen Sharma: No. Again, it's just got to do with the kind of person I am. Maybe someone in my place would have felt differently. That way, I don't even feel like I belong in the Bengali film industry because I have done bits here and there, all over the place.
Rajeev Masand: So do you feel like a gypsy?
Konkona Sen Sharma: That sounds nice and romantic but I feel like an individual.
Rajeev Masand: Now that you are doing a few big-budget movies, what does it mean? That you are sticking your neck out a little or that they are now making the kind of movies that interest you?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Both, I think. It's sometimes good to do big-budget films because half the time we are scrounging around feeling bad for ourselves. I have also stuck my neck out a little because I like to do different kind of films. I also did a horror film Amavasa which never got released. But it's also surprising that they are casting me, so good for them, I think even they are sticking their necks out a little. But in the two films I'm working on, it is the directors who have that kind of sensibility. I'm doing Anil Mehta's Aaja Nachle and Pradeep Sarkar's Laaga Chuneri Mein Daag
Rajeev Masand: You've steered clear of song and dance Hindi films even with movies like Page 3 and Traffic Signal. Now you are doing a film like Aaja Nachle. How long are you going to keep fighting it?
Konkona Sen Sharma: It is Madhuri Dixit's comeback film so it has to be Aaja Nachle. It is going to be superb. In the context, when I say I do not like to do song and dance kind of films, firstly, it's because I'm not very good at it and it has now been proven but also because those are the kind of films that are made with the box office in mind and just to sell the music. They are made more with the intention of making money then creative intention. But in Aaja Nachle, it has been incorporated so organically to the plot. And sometimes when you want to work with a particular director, you have to take the bad with the good and learn dancing.
Rajeev Masand: But what's your problem with it?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I can't do it!
Rajeev Masand: But you can't say I can't do it because going by the same logic, there are girls who could say, 'I can't act as well as her', but they still act.
Konkona Sen Sharma: That's very brave of them. Maybe they shouldn't be! But I'm just saying that I know my strengths and weaknesses and dancing is not particularly my strength. But you have to do it. Like I was just telling someone the other day that sometimes you want to do a film but there is a lovemaking scene. No one in the right mind would want to do a lovemaking scene because it is awkward.
Rajeev Masand: Is it really?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Yes, it is very strange. It is clinical and there are lights but it is still weird. So it's like that. There was a slight change mentally, like a mental makeover and I told myself, 'I'm not good at this but I'll learn and let's give it a shot.' But in Metro I didn't have to do any dancing.
Rajeev Masand: But to get back to dancing, you dance at clubs …
Konkona Sen Sharma: I can dance for myself, often with some alcohol. Otherwise, I can't.
Rajeev Masand: Never in front of the mirror?
Konkona Sen Sharma: No, never. I was not that kind of a girl.
Rajeev Masand: But do you envy those who can? Like Bipasha (Basu)who was fantastic in Omkara?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I never had any scenes with her but I remember there was one scene with Kareena (Kapoor) where I had to dance a little and she's a good dancer. Even in Aaja Nachle, Madhuri's so good so you know, it's cruel. Why must I also be there?
Rajeev Masand: In your new film Metro, you play a girl who has a very clear idea of what love is supposed to mean and what a perfect partner is supposed to mean, so much so that she cant even spot love right in front of her.
Konkona Sen Sharma: But can you blame her, given the way Irrfan (Khan) has played that role?
Rajeev Masand: Are you like that in real?
Konkona Sen Sharma: No, I don't think I'm like that at all. She has very high standards and I have seen that people who are like that really miss out on life. I, on the other hand have very low standards and low expectations from myself.
Rajeev Masand: How do you tap into a character? Do you look for some kind of a relateability and work from there or is there another method?
Konkona Sen Sharma: There is no such method. I basically just go by instinct.
Rajeev Masand: You were offered the part of Ashima in Mira Nair's The Namesake. But you didn't take it because your mother was making 15, Park Avenue almost at the same time. Was that an emotional or personal decision?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Both. Obviously I want to work with Mira Nair. I love her movies and I like her very much and respect her. My mother and I both wanted to me to work with her and we did change our schedule so that I could work in her film. But she was also under various pressures and she was shooting in different countries and then other actors and their schedules. By the time they came out with the final schedule, we had already booked our hotels in Bhutan. Plus, 15, Park Avenue is a film too close to my heart. So yes, it was an emotional decision and I would do it a hundred times over. I would choose my mother's film over anything else.
Rajeev Masand: Saying that it was an emotional decision, is that how you conduct your career sometimes?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Yes. I find it difficult to say no to people. If I don't want to work with someone at all, I avoid meeting them altogether. But once I meet them and there is a good vibe, I feel really bad. And there is no real reason for me to feel bad, they are doing just fine.
Rajeev Masand: So you are not ambitious ?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Not at all.
Rajeev Masand: But shouldn't you be ashamed of that?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Not at all, enough people are ambitious so it is okay.
Rajeev Masand: But do you ever wonder how The Namesake would have turned out had you been in it? Very different, I am sure.
Konkona Sen Sharma: Of course. But Tabu is one of my favourite actresses in the world.
Rajeev Masand: But does it happen that when you say no to a film you wonder how you might have done them?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Yes, and most of the times I think, 'I could not have done this' so it is a good thing they did it.
Rajeev Masand: How important is money?
Konkona Sen Sharma: It is important. What to do? I'm here in Bombay, trying to buy a house. So it is unfortunately too important.
Rajeev Masand: Has it gotten better since you signed the big-budget films?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Yes, it has. Earlier, I was doing half the things for free because as usual I was feeling bad but now I have a very nice secretary Mr Tiwari now who handles my work. But I believe I'm still underselling myself.
Rajeev Masand: What is the biggest luxury of doing big-budget movies? Better toilets?
Konkona Sen Sharma: That's a good one. I wouldn't have thought of it myself but it's true. Better make-up rooms, better vanity vans, no problem with your staff and food.
Rajeev Masand: So has it spoilt you?
Konkona Sen Sharma: No. I'm very deeply rooted in my low-budget background, with my mother and my upbringing.
Rajeev Masand: So do you need to keep doing 'one for me, one for them' kind of thing?
Konkona Sen Sharma: No, I just take one film at a time. It depends on which director and film I like and I just go with that. There is no larger agenda.
Rajeev Masand: What was the most extravagant thing you bought with the movie you earned yourself?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Nothing. My car.
Rajeev Masand: Do you drive yourself?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I do. I enjoy driving though it gets a bit difficult sometimes in Bombay. It can be like a video game sometimes but I enjoy driving.
Rajeev Masand: Are you a good driver?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I like to think I am a very good driver.
Rajeev Masand: What do your friends tell you?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Some of them tell me that I'm not but I don't believe them.
Rajeev Masand: What was the last Hindi film you saw that make you wish you had done?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I can't remember, honestly. There are films that I have loved like Chaandni Bar and Bunty aur Babli but I hardly think I would have been able to do it as well as they did.
Rajeev Masand: You really think that?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I really do.
Rajeev Masand: What do you think you won't be able to bring?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Tabu's eyes, her silences, her hair and her height! And I cant imagine anyone but Rani doing Bunty aur Babli. She was so vivacious, feisty and she's a good dancer and there were lot's of songs.
Rajeev Masand: So it always comes back to the songs.
Konkona Sen Sharma: Yes, I'm terrified.
Rajeev Masand: Considering you have stayed away from the masala Hindi films, do you ever see Aishwarya, Preity or Rani get all dresses up and think to yourself, 'I would like to do that and have fun'?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I do get dressed up and have fun, like at the premiere of Bheja Fry. I like to get dressed up but on my own terms. Half the time I'm too lazy to get dressed up. And I'm still star-struck so I don't think, 'Oh I wish I could be like them'.
Rajeev Masand: You have worked with some of them like Rani, Kareena and Bipasha. How do they respond to you?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I don't know. You'll have to ask them.
Rajeev Masand: Are they intimidated by you? You come with this cloud over you with this serious actress thing.
Konkona Sen Sharma: What nonsense! But yes, they do take me seriously which is a good thing. I don't think they are intimidated. I am intimidated most of the times and very excited.
Rajeev Masand: Is there a performance of yours you are embarrassed about?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Yes, quite a few. One of them is Traffic Signal though I am embarrassed for the wrong reasons. I was embarrassed because of the clothes and the way I looked in the film.
Rajeev Masand: I though you were miscast.
Konkona Sen Sharma: You can take that up with Madhur (Bhandarkar). I like the character very much and I'm glad I got to play the role and like you said, sometimes you have to stick your neck out and get it chopped off sometimes!
Rajeev Masand: You have been raised in Kolkata, you studied in Delhi and now you are in Bombay. So what is home to you?
Konkona Sen Sharma:I feel at home in all three cities and I can live in a big city as long as I have my work and my friends but home is always Kolkata.
Rajeev Masand: How often do you go back?
Konkona Sen Sharma: It is very erratic. Sometimes I go twice in a week and sometimes I go after three-four months. It depends on my schedule here.
Rajeev Masand: How settled are you in Bombay?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I feel quite settled here. Earlier when I was staying in hotels it was a little uncomfortable because what do you order after a point of time?
Rajeev Masand: So do you cook now?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I have a cook. I can't cook very much now so I don't. But I always call home and ask how do they make a certain dish and then I tell my maid but it never comes out the same.
Rajeev Masand: Is your mother proud and does she visit you and feel you've done well for yourself?
Konkona Sen Sharma: She's always worried about me and constantly thinks I'm making all the wrong decisions and she keeps asking, 'Are you sure you want to do this film to do, are you looking nice in that film?' And then in the end she says 'Oh, it wasn't that bad after all.'
Rajeev Masand: Do you talk to her before signing every film?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Not really. I would love to show her all the scripts but it is not possible. Our lives our hectic and we are far away.
Rajeev Masand: Has anyone said that now it's sell-out considering you are doing big-budget films?
Konkona Sen Sharma: I don't take my friends seriously on that one. They keep saying you are a star. But most of the times I am stopped at gates.
Rajeev Masand: I don't believe that.
Konkona Sen Sharma: I am telling you. At the premiere of Page 3, I was only not allowed. It was like, look at the poster, that's me! But I don't take my friends seriously because they tease me regardless of what I do.
Rajeev Masand: So tell me, why are you here in the movies? You are not ambitious. You take emotional decisions.
Konkona Sen Sharma: I have wept on the phone so many times I can't tell you. Or after I have hung up. But I'm here because I don't know how to do anything else. By and large I enjoy what I do though I have not done anything else. And I am getting work. So as long as I am, I might as well take advantage of it.
Rajeev Masand: Well, best of luck. We like what we see and we hope to see more interesting things and you mixing it up, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Thank you for joining us.
Konkona Sen Sharma: Thank You.
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