Konkana Sen Sharma on her upcoming film Talvar and splitting with husband Ranvir Shorey
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 17, 2015)

Soon after Wake Up Sid released, Konkona Sen Sharma tied the knot with her date of five years, Ranvir Shorey, in a private ceremony on September 3, 2010. On March 15, 2011, the couple welcomed a baby boy, Haroon. Three days ago, the actress took to social media to announce, "Ranvir and I have mutually decided to separate, but continue to be friends and co-parent our son."

When Mirror caught up with her, Koko, as she is fondly known, was in a cheery, chatty mood. "My separation is an open-and-shut case. Go ahead, ask me a scandalous question, I'm all ears!" she joked.

Describing herself as a 'reckless tweeter', she admits that she shares personal details about what she's eating and doing. The 'split' was one of those confessions. "I like the tag 'reckless tweeter' because it absolves me of all kinds of responsibility. It's all on the back burner now and I'm not forced to reply to people's comments," she shrugs. "Happiness is not a permanent condition. Life by its very definition means that it's a journey filled with ups and downs, no one has a problem-free life."

Dressed in a long, back kurta and white salwar, Koko is at her slimmest. The compliment is welcomed with a, "Yaaay." She goes on to exclaim, "Isn't that what we all want? To be thin! It's one of my priorities too but I'm not obsessed about fitness. My workouts are erratic but I do yoga."

She was last seen in, Gour Hari Dastaan: The Freedom File, which got plenty of critical acclaim on the festival circuit but tanked at the box-office. "If only people knew why certain films don't work, there would be formulas for success. But since the failure of a film is not in my control, I do not concern myself with it," she retorts.

She is confident about her upcoming film, Talvar, on the 2008 Noida double murders of Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj Banjade. She recalls watching Akira Kurosawa's 1950-crime-thriller, Rashomon, which Talvar is being compared to, while still in her teens. "Rashomon is pure brilliance. I've seen it many times and can understand the comparisons. In the black-and-white film too, four people narrate a murder and each time, you get yourself a different murderer," she explains. "The fine line my character walked between being guilty, not-so-guilty and innocent, is what enticed me to take this role up."

The other reason was her trust in Vishal Bhardwaj with whom she had done Omkara, and with Meghna Gulzar directing it, she knew it would be a quality film. "And of course, I love Irrfan Khan. I missed not having too many scenes with him. Most of my scenes are with Neeraj Kabi who plays my husband in the film," she says.

Recalling the shoot through the 'grotesque' Delhi summer she was reminded of why she never wanted to be an actress. It started with a Rituparno Ghosh film in Bengali, Titli, which she didn't take seriously. It was well-received and led to Mr and Mrs Iyer which she was never keen on doing. "I even told my mom to cast a sweet, Tam-Brahm girl in my place. I won the National Award but continued to live in the denial for years," she laughs.

Konkana has three Bengali-film releases this year and asserts that being a part of the trio has been the most satisfying experience. There's Shajarur Kanta, a story from the detective Byomkesh Bakshy series with Dhritiman Chatterjee as an older detective Kadambari is about Rabindranath Tagore and his sister-in-law, who was his muse and with whom he was supposed to be in a 'relationship'. "That invited a lot of comment, to put it mildly. It's another biopic in my bag and unbelievably gratifying," she says. The third is Shesher Kobita, based on Tagore's novella, The Last Poem.

Now, Koko wants to be a part of an English film or an English TV show as it's the language she is most comfortable with. "But even those with agents aren't getting great work in the West so I'm going to be patient and wait for good content."

She's keen on Hindi fiction TV and wants to take a script that she has written to the floors next year. "I would rather burn it than give it to someone else to direct as it's all in my head. But my son is still very young and filmmaking is a lengthy process," she sighs.

What about another collaboration with her mother, actress-filmmaker Aparna Sen? "My mom and I talk everyday about what excites us. She always has two-three ideas about films we should work on together," she smiles.