Picture this: Karisma Kapoor was shooting for a brand commercial four years ago, when the makers of Brown approached her to front the series. The actor’s first reaction? A hard no. Kapoor recalled, “I vehemently said no to Brown. I’m not in the rat race; I’m in my own lane, working at my own pace. So, when the team at Zee came to me, I said, ‘Going to Kolkata for 50 days is out of the question!’”

So, what changed her mind about the Abhinay Deo-directed crime thriller? Persuasion. “The lady [from Zee] asked for 20 minutes. I refused as the [brand] shoot was going on. She asked to meet me after two days. Today, I’m so happy I took that meeting, because when I heard the script of Brown, I couldn’t say no to playing Rita Brown,” said the actor, who plays a depressed, alcoholic cop investigating a series of murders in Kolkata. Certainly a dramatically different role from the ones Kapoor began with, over 30 years ago.

When she forayed into films, masala fares that relied on stardom, song-and-dance, and escapism were the norm — something that is viewed as easy today, when author-backed roles and realistic stories dominate the landscape. But she doesn’t share the opinion.

“The most difficult thing is to do comedy. You can pull off an intense scene, but doing comedy is tougher,” asserted the actor.

She further batted for mainstream movies, saying, “My first big award was for Raja Hindustani [1996], an out-and-out [mainstream] film. So, as an actor, just do your best and it will be appreciated.”