The success of her latest OTT outing Killer Soup has Konkona Sen Sharma relaxed. She calls it a “wonderful feeling” but also expresses relief. “We worked very hard. Shows take a lot of time to make. By the time audiences watch it, a long time has passed. After you finish shooting, you are so vulnerable as an actor, but by the time it releases, you regain composure — one becomes a little more detached,” she says.

The actor has received acclaim from all quarters throughout her OTT journey. It started with the medical drama Mumbai Diaries, which was greenlit for a second season in 2023. She also directed a segment in Lust Stories 2 with Tillotama Shome and Amruta Subhash, one that was widely considered the best among the lot.

“I would watch international series like Fargo and Breaking Bad until OTT became big in India. I was familiar with the concept, and was dying to do [a limited series] because I had only done films and short films. So, when Mumbai Diaries was offered to me, I was excited,” explains Sensharma.

Killer Soup’s central premise was the female lead’s dream to start her own restaurant. Does she agree that female actors are still offered central roles more often on OTT than on films? “Maybe. But, of late, films that have done well at the box office don’t have such extensive roles for women,” answers the actor, adding, “I may be mistaken but there aren’t many great roles for women on the big screen right now. But they’ll come.”

There’s been plenty of talk around censorship on the web about nudity, strong language and violence. Sen Sharma says there’s a lot of self-censorship on the medium. “Everybody is very careful about what they are saying [on OTT]; you never know when an FIR will come. A lot of this self-censorship was not there a decade ago,” says the 44-year-old, before raising a pertinent point:

“But this censorship is largely about respecting religious sentiments. I don’t think it is for misogyny. Women are hit, violence is inflicted (in web projects), but sadly not much censorship is there,” she explains.

Sen Sharma, who has tasted success as a director with Lust Stories 2, is planning to develop a series now. “It is not easy to pull off but I am definitely open to the idea. It’ll be a comedy — I don’t know if platforms will like it, whether we will get the budgets we need,” says the A Death In The Gunj (2017) director, before ending with another revelation: “I am also developing a feature film. If I’m able to write something that is good and raise funds for it, then I will definitely make it.”