Ruman Ganguly (BOMBAY TIMES; February 5, 2021)

Supriya Pathak Kapur, who is currently in Kolkata to shoot for Kaushik Ganguly’s Hindi directorial debut Manohar Pandey, spoke about how she misses being on stage, her definition of love, lessons of the pandemic and more. Excerpts.

Manohar Pandey is a love story of a middle-aged couple in the background of the pandemic. What does love mean to you at this point in life?
To me the definition of love remains the same, but its understanding changes with age and maturity. Love, to me, means wanting to be with your loved one or do something for someone you care about selflessly. It’s not the mushy part of it at all. The emotional bond grows with time where sharing life with that person becomes important.

During the lockdown, you spoke about how you were thankful to your parents who made you appreciate books and reading. Do you encourage your children to do the same?
My daughter-in-law (Mira Kapoor) loves to read books and so does my granddaughter. She is five years old now and she loves making us read her books, too. Her favourite pastime is: Ba (she calls me Ba) and Baba (Pankaj Kapur) kahani batao... so we tell her stories and she, too, tells us stories in return. They are very involved in books and that’s a great thing about Mira. I must say she is a great mother, so our job is only to pamper our grandchildren.

What has the Coronavirus pandemic taught you?
It has taught me that we can do with very little in life. The other major thing that I learnt was to be with myself, to know and to understand myself. You have to learn how to be with yourself. And I felt I am not a bad person… that was a discovery (laughs!).

Any immediate plans of getting back on stage again?
I miss being on stage, but Pankaj and I have put our plans on hold. I am not confident of asking people to come to the theatre in bulk. I would like to wait a little longer for things to normalise. That apart, both Pankaj and I are busy working on our respective films.

You seem to share a good camaraderie with Taapsee Pannu, with whom you are doing Rashmi Rocket. What is it like to work with the new crop of actors?
The new generation of actors are extremely hard working. Taapsee has done an amazing job in Rashmi Rocket. Youngsters today are much more focused, determined, and therefore, ready to take challenges and experiment with their characters. It’s fun to work with them. Actors earlier were mostly stuck in a genre, but youngsters are now trying to break that stereotype.

You have a vast body of work in roles — comic, serious, even outright villainous. Which of these do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy playing all characters as I love acting. Kahi bhi acting karwa lo, main ready hoon. The more varied the genre, better it is for me as an actor.

Most people believe television’s best days were in the ’80s. As someone with a TV career graph spanning three decades, what are your views on the issue?
Television was such a great medium that used to entertain us. For me, entertainment is not just laughter or sadness, but reaching out to people with every kind of emotion. I thought television would help in doing that, but it got messed up. We didn’t know how to handle it. It came down to a point where we were stuck in telling outdated stories. The audience laps up whatever you give them.