Interview of Konkona Sen Sharma

FOR ALL MY CONFIDENCE I AM A BIG PHATTU

    Konkona Sen Sharma would like to remain old-fashioned in believing that a woman’s age is mysterious and should be kept that way. She is confident and comfortable being the person she is. Looking stunning in her mother’s sari, sounding every bit like Jaya Bachchan in the way she speaks, she talks about her unconventional childhood, her memories of daayans and why Anurag Basu is her favourite director. Excerpts: 

Konkona Sen Sharma

Did you always know that you would become an actress? I never wanted to become an actress. I have the coolest and the most awesome parents, who are well-educated. My mom is well-read in English and Bengali and my dad is a humourist, science writer and a futurist. In fact, for many years, he wrote the ‘Mind Sport’ column for the edit page in the Times of India. He is funny, intelligent, plays the guitar has a great perspective and looks at life from the world of humour. My mom is this fabulous, strong woman who lives life on her own terms. I had a liberal upbringing with unconventional parents and both my parents are my inspiration. My parents (Aparna Sen and Mukul Sharma), were divorced when I was six. I was lucky as both of them married wonderful people. So while I lived with my mother, I had parents who were amicable and I actually landed with up two sets of wonderful parents. My mother always said, ‘it’s better for a child to have happy parents apart rather than unhappy parents together’. I have always believed that if you grow up seeing happy people, have good energy and have resources within yourself to make yourself happy, you will be happy. 
    Your happiness is your own responsibility. These are values I picked up from my parents. They are my best friends and I would tell them things that I would tell nobody as they would never judge me and would always support me. I started acting as a child artiste and everyone would tell my mom she will be an actor. I studied till Class VIII in Modern High School and was not doing so well and was quite reserved till I was 13. My mom, having a keen sensibility, realised that I will not blossom in a conventional school and put me in Calcutta International School. That was a more modern school. I blossomed and came in to my own as a personality there. I was always a voracious reader, but I became more open and started doing plays. I then went to St. Stephen’s College and completed my English Honours. In my second year, I was offered a Bengali film. While I was not sure initially, it did well. And then I did a film by Rituparno Ghosh, who was a friend of my mother, after which I came back to doing my MA. But I was bored and dropped out soon. I then did Mr and Mrs Iyer with my mother and won a National Award for it. That made it easy for me to continue to act. After that, Amu and then Page 3 happened. I have never been ambitious and have always gone with the flow. 

What is your mother like? She has a lot of energy, is passionate, gives everything to anything she does and is not concerned about what other people think. She is an unconventional mother. Though she feels guilty for everything herself and would take me everywhere with her, she always asks me to not obsess about being a mother as she knows that you will be a mother forever and tells me that’s it’s ok to work. 

You are not good looking in the conventional Bengali way as your mother is. Did that ever affect you? My mother is gorgeous and I consider myself to be her biggest fan. I don’t compare myself to her in terms of looks or career and we don’t have to follow the same trajectory. She is a part of me. Also, I am a fairly confident person and I find myself quite good-looking. 

Your parents divorced when you were only six. Did that affect you as a child? I was a quiet child, but did not know what it was to be sad. But today, I realise how important those times were of being on your own and reading books. My mother would take me to the Moscow Film Festival, where I would watch all kinds of international cinema including a lot of adult films and would tag along with her on her film set. Life is about ups and downs and luckily for me I have never had any extended lows, but when I am feeling low, it helps to watch a film, eat something and call a friend. Plus, I am super high on sleeping. I do believe that life is a series of distractions from death. The only certainty is that you have to die, so do things that make you happy. At the end of your life, you will not remember your best work, but will remember just moments with people. 

Your son is now two years old. Has your life changed after him? He did not sleep for one year. I don’t think I have changed but yes, sleep deprivation has altered my personality. I do have a little more patience that I think is a good thing. 

Is there a director with whom you enjoyed working with more than others? I really enjoyed working with Anurag Basu in Life In A Metro. He would suddenly say let’s not shoot today, let’s cook mutton and I like such people. Also it was amongst the first few films I shot in Mumbai and on the first day of shoot a close aunt passed away and he just said ‘go now’. It had not happened to me before and I was really touched. I have grown up as a director’s daughter and feel for directors and producers. I just like him as a person. Quite like me, he is relaxed and does not take himself so seriously. I like that. I missed doing Namesake as I was shooting my mom’s 15 Park Avenue, but I really want to work with Mira Nair again. 

Any best friends in the industry? I don’t really have close friends in the industry but I am still in touch with Sandy(Sandhya Mridul) and Tara (Tara Sharma) from Page 3. Also due to Ranvir, I am close to Vinay Pathak and Rajat Kapoor. 

Ek Thi Daayan is based on short stories written by your father. Does that make this film more special for you? My film world has always been my mom. And now, it is also my father. My father is friends with Vishal Bhardwaj and my director Kanan Iyer. I am thrilled that the film is based on his short stories as it allows me to share one more part of my life with my dad. 

Do you associate with daayans? As a child, I was always told stories of ‘daini buris’ who would come if I did not eat my food. For all my huge confidence, I am a big phattu. I am scared of the dark, scared of water and can’t cycle. Horror has made a huge comeback — be it through vampires, zombies or in our Indian context with our traditional daayans. 

There have been rumours of trouble in your married life. Is there any truth to that? I have never spoken about my personal life and don’t see why I should start now. Ranvir and I just want to confuse people and I don’t think people should care about the state of our marriage.

Ekta Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma