Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; March 18, 2018)

Nimrat Kaur could well be defined in one word: unconventional. Few would know that this Punjabi girl grew up on a heavy dose of commercial entertainers and fancied dancing like Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit. Ironically, serious roles like the ones in the American shows Homeland and Wayward Pines and in films like The Lunchbox and Airlift, threw the spotlight on her acting talent. For now, her dancing skills have been brushed under the carpet. Yet, she’s not one to live with a compromise. She’s fierce and outgoing, but in moderation. In conversation with BT, Nimrat speaks about her search for stimulating roles and what feminism and gender equality mean to her. Excerpts:

Airlift was a success, but you didn’t follow it up with a mainstream Hindi film. Why?
After Airlift, I took up Wayward Pines, which was a leap of faith for me. After I shot that, I realised that it takes time to re-plug into the system back here in India. I embrace that because that’s a price you pay for not being on the scene temporarily. Then I took up a project, which we stopped shooting midway because of some unforeseen reasons. Eventually, it took the entire year to complete that. It threw my other work plans off track. I went through a lot of ups and downs and at times, I even slipped into self-doubt, but things are fine now.

Often, being out there on the socializing network translates into better opportunities for work. How often have you been tempted or advised to do so?
Advised? Yes. Tempted? Never! I can’t do it, it exhausts me. It’s important to put yourself out there, but I don’t think everyone who does it has a job and vice versa. It’s like social media… Some celebrities don’t want to be out there because they don’t see the need to sing songs about their private life. Besides, I don’t have much to contribute to gatherings. I don’t drink much and I am a bit of an early bird. I usually don’t know what to do at a party. If you are intoxicated, it’s fine. There are times when I drink water and pretend its vodka… I have tried blending in, but after a point, it’s very confusing. Half the time, I’m thinking at the back of my mind that the person I’m interacting with should not feel that I am hankering for work just because I’m holding a conversation. I don’t want to be misunderstood.

You’ve steered clear of the usual commercial fare. Is unconventional the right word to describe your career choices?
I didn’t come to Mumbai to become a star or a heroine. I don’t think I knew enough to even want that. I did B.Com Honors before coming here. I’ve been through several rounds of auditions. What I know today is because of a lot of research. I learnt how to read scenes and dialogues and what to make of a script while I was at work. For me, being in showbiz is a life-long PhD. I feel like I’m always studying and giving exams, and I choose the ones that interest me more. I don’t have this means-to-an-end kind of mentality. This is my life and I chose to do this because I wanted to do only this and nothing else. I choose stories that stimulate my mind. The show, the razzmatazz is very entertaining and I love it, but it doesn’t define the profession for me. I enjoy it for the people I get to meet, the emotions I experience and the strange mental situations I go through while playing parts. It’s a different sort of a hunt for me. If I don’t take risks, it’ll be a shame. If I don’t do something that lets me be elsewhere, then what’s the purpose of being an actor? When I did Homeland, a lot of people asked me, ‘Why TV?’ They clearly don’t get it. They don’t understand the canvas a project can have. Homeland gave my career an edge. I don’t know if another project here could have done the same. And honestly, in India, your talent is appreciated more once the West recognizes it. Otherwise, it’s ghar ki murgi daal barabar. Look at Irrfan.

For people in India, it’s sometimes difficult to gauge what really happens in the West. There’s limited access to that industry. What’s their current perception of Bollywood?
Bollywood is colours and vibrant songs for them. They think we are a big, Broadway show and I don’t blame them for it because that is a picture we have proudly put out for the world. Music and dance is a part of our film culture, and we celebrate it. I’m proud of it, too. Indian films have their roots in the nautanki format, which I learnt while doing theatre. Lip-synced songs aren’t as common in world cinema as they are in India. At the same time, Hollywood has woken up to the fact that South Asians are a big part of the movie-watching world and the talent pool of their artistes is growing faster than ever. That is one of the reasons why Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan are embraced by the West and are cast in extremely believable characters that don’t necessarily play on their nationality. They have recognized that we are the largest industry, loaded with competent actors. How many of our actors really fit into Hollywood is a different story.

Are Bollywood actors open to the idea of screen-testing in the West, because it’s not a regular practice here?
You don’t get to know when people from here give screen tests for a role in the West, because they are fearful of being judged. Some of them actually see auditions as an act of reducing their stock value in the domestic market. They perceive it as a process meant only for amateurs. With auditioning, they feel they’re relegating their status. We’re not cast in films on the basis of our capability alone. I’m not saying auditions don’t happen here, but casting is more of a decision based on likes, looks, pairing and the math of the business. Given a chance, everyone would like to diversify. I wouldn’t take names, but a lot of our actors do audition for roles in the West. Everyone wants to give it a shot, but they’ll do it only if they know they can swing it and won’t end up making an ass of themselves.

There was a time when a thinking woman was not an entity that a male-dominated industry was ready to accept; that seems to have changed to a large degree.
(Cuts in…) I ask this question to myself all the time. While we have all this talk around feminism, are all the women just so capable and competent, and are they always denied? I have seen incompetent women who want to take advantage of their gender and get credit for things that they haven’t quite done. Women often fail to understand that gender has nothing to do with their voices being heard or credit being given to them. Twinkle Khanna was an actor who became a homemaker, a mother, a writer and is now a movie-maker. If you have the capability and a distinct voice, it will be heard irrespective. Smaller cities that lack basics and don’t allow women their share of freedom are a separate issue. In urban India, if you are capable, you will most likely get your due. I don’t come from a place where I think that I should get importance because I am a woman. I don’t like people being unfair to a man or to a woman because of their gender or the fact that they can’t speak decent English. Prejudice doesn’t come with gender alone, but I guess it’s fashionable to talk about one kind of prejudice.

Often, women do go through a lot of difficulties before their voice gets heard…
It’s always going to be tougher for girls. We are required to look after the home and the kids essentially because that’s the social design we live with. We are here doing that while having a career, which makes it hard to achieve a balance. It’s a challenge we put ourselves through because we are girls. I don’t have any delusions of living in an equal society because the world and the society are imbalanced, especially in India. We come from a different mind-set. Women have to work harder at a job than a man and I accept that, but I also feel that if you are capable, you’ll get there. For instance, someone like Ekta Kapoor stands apart as a force of nature because she is a woman. I don’t know if I would pay as much attention to her if she were a man. I look up to her as an icon because she’s a woman who has toiled against the forces to create a kingdom of her own.