Leaving behind his established modelling career in Delhi, Rohman Shawl came to Mumbai to explore other avenues. The actor, who was once dating Sushmita Sen and continues to be her close friend, talks about how he made the shift from the runway to cinema and the impact Sushmita has had on his life.

After acting in a few short films, Rohman bagged the role of one of the antagonists in the film Amaran. 

The actor said, “Playing an antagonist is a feeling every actor should experience. I wanted people to hate me for my role, and they did, so I guess I did something right and it felt like an accomplishment. It was such a dark role that it was changing me as a person. With this film, I learnt that as an actor one needs to learn when to break away from the character.”

Rohman came into the limelight as someone who was dating Sushmita Sen a few years ago. While there was a lot of buzz around that, it also led to him losing out on modelling assignments. He said, “In 2013, I began modelling in Delhi. I became a top model there, and with all that experience came to Mumbai. When I met Sushmita, I wasn’t focusing on becoming an actor. In fact, after my name was associated with hers, people thought that I wouldn’t take up modelling assignments and would switch to acting instead. Log sochne lage ab yeh kyun modelling karega and I stopped getting offers.”

Being with Sushmita, Rohman picked up the nitty-gritties of acting and how things functioned on sets. “I was lucky enough to be on the sets of Aarya and Taali and see her perform. You can just observe people and absorb so much. I hope everyone has a person in their life they can learn from,” he shared. 

Though the two have moved on from that phase, Rohman is often spotted accompanying Sushmita at events. He explained, “I only accompany her as a friend. I like spending time with her. If the relationship didn’t have issues and if you have given so much to a relationship, then why would you run away from it?”

Talking about his personal life, Rohman said, “I am single right now, but because a big name of that stature has been associated with me, people think that I am still with her. So, nobody even approaches me (laughs). I totally believe in love and relationships. In fact, I like being in relationships that drive me.”

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Rohman was last seen in Sivakarthikeyan and Sai Pallavi's blockbuster film Amaran. He played the role of terrorist Asif Wani. The film went on to collect Rs 220 crore at the box office and was one of the biggest tamil hit of last year.

Nikita Dutta has been a history buff since childhood. So, when Ram Madhvani’s The Waking Of A Nation came her way, she knew she had to be part of it. Even when the filmmaker mentioned the ‘no grooming clause’ for the character, she agreed without hesitation. The Waking Of A Nation revolves around the Hunter Commission, which is an investigation of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The actor, who previously starred in Ek Duje Ke Vaaste (2016), Gold (2018), Kabir Singh (2019), The Big Bull (2021), and Khakee: The Bihar Chapter (2022), among other things, discusses the privilege of working in a Madhvani show and why it features one of the “strongest characters” she has ever played. Edited excerpts from the interview.

I was called for this show while attending yoga school. I had to audition over the phone, which I had always believed never worked because there was no brief. I initially resisted, as the scene was one of the toughest in the show. But they insisted, so I recorded it without much thought. A week later, they called me. When I visited the office, Ram sir explained his 360-degree shooting style—no rehearsals, no lighting, no marks. He also asked if I was okay giving up vanity completely for the 1919 setting. I immediately agreed. I completed my yoga school and was vacationing in the Maldives when I got the call welcoming me on board.

When we started workshops, I realized how much vanity I had to abandon. While I had no issue with it, living without waxing or make-up for three months was more challenging than expected. However, in front of the camera or during workshops, I felt free and liberated. It gave me a new sense of independence and allowed me to experiment.

The workshops focused on two aspects: getting comfortable with the 360-degree shooting style and understanding the period’s [nuances]. We did extensive improvisations and worked on speech and reactions from that era. So they made us go through many workshops. That’s why we were able to pull it off.  We were properly cooked by the time we came on set.

I, of course, have read about it because I am quite a history buff. The period of India’s independence struggle is something I’ve always been very fascinated with. What I did realize is that there are a lot of people who don’t know about this chapter of history. Of course, we all know about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, but we do not know what happened before and after it. The Waking Of A Nation is inspired by all those historical events, while we have also fictionalized it a bit. I remember Ram sir had gifted us a book when we just started with our workshops and it had a lot of first-hand testimonies of people who have been a victim or have lost their relatives in the massacre. That was hard-hitting.

In the show, I run a printing press with my friend Albaksh [played by Sahil Mehta]. We shot in an actual 1919 printing press with fully functional machines. Witnessing how newspapers were printed—like small alphabets are put together on a slate and how an article comes together and the amount of strength you had to apply on it to print—was fascinating.

I think he’s one of the finest filmmakers I have worked with. He is one of the nicest persons apart from being a great filmmaker. There is, of course, his process of shooting, which is widely discussed, but there is so much more than that. Not many filmmakers give a lot of substance and priority to their women characters, but if you see his body of work—from Neerja [2016] to Aarya—you will see the women playing [strong characters]. You don’t just see Sonam [Kapoor], but also notice Shabana [Azmi] ma’am’s character standing out. He says he gets his inspiration from the women around him because he’s surrounded by strong women, from his wife to his mother. That reflects not just in front of the camera, but even off it. This entire show has been shot by four women cinematographers. They have been holding those heavy cameras on their shoulders and shooting. There is no concept of trolleys in his world of filmmaking. He took care of all the basics on set, even crew members. He made sure we had clean toilets exclusively for the women in all sorts of locations that we’ve shot.

She is a strong, bold, and fierce woman—not in the stereotypical loud Punjabi way. He’s chosen to show me as a woman who has a voice, who worked back in the day, and as someone who can take control of situations within her capabilities. As an actor, it’s not every day that you get to play characters like this. It has been a privilege to be part of his filmmaking world. This is probably one of the strongest characters I’ve portrayed on screen in my life.

The fourth season of Disney+ Hotstar’s Criminal Justice will stream soon; (right) Murder In Mahim was one of Jio Cinema’s originals

On Tuesday, the JioStar website went live, with the text on the screen simply reading, ‘Coming soon’. This marks a new chapter in the months-long merger that has been underway between Reliance Industries Limited’s Viacom18, and Disney Star India. In the months since the merger’s official announcement in February, there has been speculation about the road ahead for the two media networks’ OTT arms, Jio Cinema and Disney+ Hotstar.

With JioStar expected to be fully functional on November 14 midnight, an insider tells mid-day that the content of the two platforms will be merged. “The merging of Jio Cinema and Disney+ Hotstar will be complete by November 13. After JioStar goes live on November 14 midnight, the content of both streamers will be available on this platform under separate sub-domains,” reveals a technical hand from Jio Cinema.

The question now is: What does the merger imply for the multiple channels under the two networks? While Disney Star brings with it over 20 channels across general entertainment, sports and movies, Viacom18 has its own bouquet that includes Colors and regional channels.

A production source from Star says, “Both Star and Colors have multiple regional channels targeting Bengali, Punjabi, Odia, Kannada audiences and more. So, instead of the two channels vying for the same viewers, the content of the weaker channel will be merged into the more popular counterpart. For instance, Star Marathi is doing considerably better than Colors Marathi; so, the latter will dissolve into the former. If there is a stand-out show that brings in high TRPs or pulls in a new audience, it will be retained. An example of this is Anupamaa, which is originally a Star offering. But largely, the idea is to stop replication of channels. In addition, there are many Hindi general entertainment channels, including Star Bharat, Star Plus, Star Utsav, and so on. These could be in direct competition to Colors TV. So, the channels will merge in the near future after a final programming has been locked. The final branding of these channels will be determined in the months to come.”

On the streaming front, the overlapping of international content is far less. While Disney+ Hotstar houses popular content from ABC and Showtime, such as Grey’s Anatomy and Modern Family, Jio Cinema has the HBO and Paramount slates.

The source adds, “JioStar, in that regard, will boast a diverse and enviable library. From old offerings like Game of Thrones to the more current winners like The Bear, it will have something for everyone.”

The popular homegrown titles of Disney+ Hotstar remain untouched. A hand from Disney+ Hotstar informs, “If there is a big title well in its third or fourth season, it will continue. For instance, we will soon release the fourth season of Criminal Justice. Other franchise shows such as Aarya and The Trial remain, while new series will be picked up January onwards. The operations will require synergy and will be worked out by December-end.”

Naturally, with the two networks’ workforce being consolidated, it will result in multiple people in the same roles. A trimming of head count is likely to take place.

The biggest highlight of the merger, however, is the idea of taking OTT to the last-mile consumer. It is heard that Uday Shankar, who is serving as the vice-chairman of the merged entity and will establish its strategic direction, wants to emphasize on Advertising Video on Demand (AVOD) and Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD) to lure a wider demographic.

Another source from the Jio team says, “This merger will redefine how TV and streaming will be integrated, and thus change the content landscape. We are looking at reaching every Indian, which will be possible only when you stop making it premium. That’s why we’re taking the three-pronged approach with JioStar: there will be AVOD for the widest base. Then comes SVOD at an affordable price; we noticed that the Rs. 29 per month model worked for Jio Cinema. The third will be TVOD, wherein you can rent certain digital content for a price. JioStar will make room for every viewer, as per how much they can afford.”

mid-day reached out to the communication teams of Viacom, Jio and Hotstar, who did not respond till press time.

Making a historical drama is a big responsibility. Bigger even, when the subject is one of the bloodiest chapters of Indian history. Creator Ram Madhvani is aware of the responsibility he is shouldering as he makes The Waking Of A Nation, a six-part series centred on the Hunter Commission that was established in October 1919 to investigate the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The creator-director, however, points out that his series is historical fiction.

“There were five British and three Indians in the Hunter Commission. The Indians walked out, saying that what they called investigation was, in fact, white-washing. So, this series looks at that investigation,” he starts, when we get on a call.

“There is this term called historical fiction. If you go into a bookshop, there will be a whole range of books [under the genre of] historical fiction. I suppose they are inspired by true events. This is a story [told] from our characters’ point of view.”

Researching a historical subject can be strenuous. More importantly, it can be a tricky affair. Madhvani agrees, noting that a critical factor in the genre is the lens you view the story from. He explains, “There are so many versions of [history]. Our tale is, in some ways, fictional. But I read and did my due diligence. I’m interested in that part of our colonial past. Many years ago, I did a short film called This Bloody Line, which was about Sir Cyril Radcliffe. The fact that he drew a line in one month and divided this country, when he had never been to India before, was fascinating to me.”

“I’m interested in how there has been a cultural colonization. So many things have been, in some ways, stolen from us. The Waking of a Nation is really about racism and prejudice,” says Madhvani of the Sony LIV series—starring Carl Wharton and Krishnakant Singh Bundela—that is currently in post-production.

From Neerja (2016) to Aarya and now, The Waking of a Nation, regardless of the genre his stories belong to, he says a common thread runs through them all. “I’m always figuring out how to do stories that have some kind of philosophy and spirituality in them. The first season of Aarya had the Bhagavad Gita. I used Sanskrit shlokas. That comes from my father and the books that surrounded me, and from my father-in-law, who is a freedom fighter and a Sanskrit scholar. So, The Waking of a Nation has the lead character named after my father, and is dedicated to my in-laws.”

Even as the historical offering has him consumed at the moment, one wonders about the fate of Aarya, led by Sushmita Sen. The revenge drama was one of Disney+ Hotstar’s most acclaimed shows, with the first season even earning an International Emmy nomination. Amid the platform’s merger with Jio, has he been pursued to bring out the next season of Aarya?

“Right now, because of the merger, we have to decide when Aarya is landing. I think people want to see it, and we would like to make more [seasons].  We have two more seasons. So, we will see whether that happens. That show changed me. It made me realize the scope of my job and the joy of long-format storytelling.”

He has portrayed a cop one too many times, but Vikas Kumar has always managed to play them differently. As the actor steps into the role of ACP Khan again for the second part of Aarya season 3, he credits the show’s writing for making his character “more human and emotional”. In conversation with mid-day, Kumar looks back on his acting journey, how filmmaker Ram Madhvani humanized his character in the Disney+ Hotstar show and how the part is closer to his real-life persona. Edited excerpts from the interview.

I came to Mumbai looking for work as an actor. Whoever had seen me act thought that my voice and dialogue delivery are my forte. One day, my roommate Honey Trehan, who is now a director, was sitting with an assistant casting director [working on a] Hollywood film being shot in India. They wanted somebody to ensure that the Indian actors speak British English well. So, he recommended me to the line producer. While I waited for the right acting projects to come my way, I had to do something to stay busy and earn money. Dialect coaching gave me a chance to be part of the film industry. Now, I have a company called Strictly Speaking, where my wife is also a trainer.

Never. People on the outside think that this would help me build contacts, but I’ve never looked at it as a way of finding roles. Dialogue coaching has allowed me to choose my acting assignments and do only what I really want to do.

My journey has been slow yet steady. Things looked promising after Khotey Sikkey because [I was] made to believe that there will be regular work and Khotey Sikkey was supposed to have a second season. But these shows by YRF were way ahead of their time. If something like that had happened today, it would’ve been very [successful].

The first season had its own novelty; it was fresh for the viewers and the actors to explore. In season two or three, the fear is that you can get complacent. You have to challenge yourself and see how you can do things differently within the character’s parameters. Ram also does workshops to push you. Some people liked season two more than season one; we’ve got all kinds of reactions.

I’ve refused many cop roles because they didn’t excite me or didn’t have a proper journey character-wise. The first [factor is] the writing. That’s why you take up a show like Aarya because it’s not your regular cop. Plus, Ram was directing it and it was Sushmita Sen’s comeback. Ram and the other directors [wanted me] to make ACP Khan more human and emotional, not someone who carries his authority on his shoulders. He carries enough authority when he is conducting raids, but he is also human enough to understand what Aarya as a woman may be going through. His relationship track made it a wholesome character.

Now, he comes with even more angst and drive to catch Aarya and the Russians, and get rid of the entire drug racket. This is probably the closest to how I am in real life, and Ram wanted it that way. Similarly, Sushmita is exactly like Aarya with her kids. Ram tries to capture the real you. With Ram, there is no action and cut; you go live your scene and he will capture it. Being yourself is the toughest thing to do.

If you were to play word-association, probably anywhere in the sub-continent, the word that would come immediately with Miss Universe is: Sushmita Sen.

Twenty-nine women on the planet have been crowned since her. Yet, as we introduce her in this conversation to a live audience, Miss Universe rightly shows up on top. Do you ever stop being Miss Universe?

“So glad you asked this,” she says. In Namibia, the following year, when the crown passed on to Miss USA, at the party in the coronation hall, Martin Brooks, then president of the organization joked that they’ll fire her the next morning. She said, “No, I shall resign tomorrow morning.” She was 19.

When the name-plate was placed on her table, it didn’t say “Former Miss Universe” as originally designated. It said Miss Universe, 1994, which is the year she dedicated to the title she won in Manila, Philippines. That she considers her second home after our own, i.e. India.

Consider a recent talk-show she was on with Jessica Soho, the ‘Oprah Winfrey’ of Philippines. On the episode, during the interview, Soho brought over several Philippine children from different islands, all of them named Sushmita: “These were 22-year-old girls: Sushmita Chagalung Mang, sometimes, Sushmita Sen Chagalung Mang…!” Incredible.

So, yes, whether others do or not, Sen remains Miss Universe, forever, and a crown she wears poised to perfection still. And that, strangely enough, bothered her daughter Alisah, 8, when she asked her mother, once, why there was so much paparazzi always surrounding her.

She told her child, hey, that’s because I’m kinda famous! “But, why,” the girl asked. “Because, you know, Miss Universe, and I act…”

Alisah semi-taunted her, instead, “But that was a long time ago, mom!”

The coin dropped for Sen. Around 2010, Sen had decided to take a break from films altogether. Something her manager and friends in the movie industry then, termed a “hara-kiri,” given the shelf-life attributed to female stars in Bollywood, anyway.

But her reasons were quite clear. If you scroll up her filmography on IMDb leading up to it: films titled Zindaggi Rocks, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, Karma Confession And Holi, Do Knot Disturb, Dulha Mil Gaya… Her last film, before the sabbatical, and the reason for it, was No Problem (2010). Which is when she said, “No!” There is a problem here!

Sen recalls, “You get bored, if you are growing neither as an actor nor as a person. You need to experience/observe life in order to reflect art. Also, I had become a mother again, to a one-month-old.”

“I had adopted my first child, Renee, when she was six months old. But there’s a big difference between raising a one-month and a six-month baby. That’s when I thought to myself—I can’t leave her with a nanny to do something I don’t even like!”

As happens with showbiz—“jo dikhta hai wahi bikta hai”—that break continued indefinitely, as the “scripts offered started to dry up too.” The daughter-mother exchange was a turning point of sorts, it seems. As Sen puts it, that’s when she realized her daughter had grown up as well, with a mind of her own, “telling her off.”

What did she do? What most people with paps circling them may not. That is, pick up the phone, call up the content bosses of the top three OTT platforms in India, namely, Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix.

And introduce herself, “Hi, my name is Sushmita Sen. I’m an actor, used to be one anyway. I’d like to come back to work, and I need help, because I haven’t worked in eight years.”

What might have been more baffling, for the OTT bosses, is the number of conditions she flagged, given that she’d been without a job for almost a decade: “I wanted them to know I am hungry. And I had been watching content on OTT and loving it, while Hindi cinema, with women, operated along the same lines still.”

“I told them: I want workshops. I want to learn. I want to unlearn. And I want to headline a show. I want responsibility. I don’t want to be just a character. I need a conflict so powerful that it is author backed. Their jaws dropped.”

The underlining point being something she’s followed all along: “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for. You just don’t get it [otherwise].”  

She rejected multiple scripts that obviously didn’t meet all the conditions. Until Saugata Mukherjee, with Disney+ Hotstar then, currently with Sony LIV, called her back with what he suggested was an offer she couldn’t refuse. He told her nothing else.

In true Godfather style, only few hours later, she was with director Ram Madhvani, who she was pleasantly surprised to meet. He described her role as the “female Michael Corleone.”

Within five minutes, she said yes: “My lawyer Priyanka was making nail marks on my thigh—‘you can’t just do that’!” Sen says what she had learnt from her “first innings [in Bollywood] was not to get carried away by a script. The words to screen require a team.”

This is how, in 2020, we finally saw Sen in Aarya, on screen, after years, doing gymnastics, in the opening scene. We saw her husband in the series, Chandrachur Singh, who’d also been away for so long that some (like me) mistook him for Shashi Tharoor, for a second. “Yeah, I saw those memes,” Sen laughs.

Madhvani’s International Emmy-nominated Aarya is a dark, crackerjack crime thriller, based on the Dutch drama, Penoza, that follows the life of Sen’s eponymous character, as she navigates the world of drug-trade, mafia, murders and revenge, across the rugged terrains of Rajasthan. Aarya is still par for the three-season course.

A better shocker for audiences would’ve been Sen showing up as a transgender lead—playing the activist Gauri Sawant, who went through sex-change, in Taali (on Jio Cinema). You only have to notice Sen in the younger portions of the series, where she’s a young boy with slight stubble, to appreciate the transformation. “That’s when I felt totally beautiful [in my skin],” she says. 

The process presumably must’ve been the same: training, workshop, learn, unlearn. The only criticism likely to come her way for Taali, and something she was prepared for, is usurping a role rightly reserved for a transgender actor, after all. She defends, “Frankly, I wasn’t okay to play the role in Taali, until I knew Gauri Sawant herself wants me to play her.”

“The crew was resistant to get in touch with me [Miss Universe, etc], until Gauri coaxed them into it. She told them, I want my life to be beautiful. It has been spelt out to be ugly for far too long.” Sen declares she may have actually underplayed Sawant in the part: “She’s way too spit-fire strong in actual life!”

• • •

While there are several Sushmitas named after Sen, born around the mid ’90s, in Philippines, and in India too—a better name for her might well be Alice. And I don’t mean this in the way of the song, ‘Who the f*** is Alice!’ But, of course, the book, Alice in Wonderland. 

Think about it. Enough female actors, in particular, during interviews, you’ll observe, say they never actually wanted to be actors. Which is euphemism for how they never chased fame. It’s only true for Sen, in all honesty. She never even did inter-school plays, growing up.

Shortly after winning the Miss Universe title, she built a home and life in Los Angeles—“that’s where my financial independence was”—for three years.

She had a career in modelling sorted, perhaps looking at entrepreneurship thereafter. It was while she was visiting her parents in Delhi during the time that filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt called her to meet, since he happened to be in Delhi too. She told him over the phone, “If it’s for a role, I’m not interested. I can’t lie. It’ll show on camera.”

This, one can vouch for, even during this conversation. Between 2010-2012, during her acting sabbatical, Sen ran the Miss Universe franchise from India, then owned by Donald Trump. She adds, “This didn’t make it easy or fun. I enjoyed sending girls from India to compete for the pageant, but I didn’t like the people I was working with, so I quit.” 

On Trump, she says, “There are some people who leave an impression, not necessarily because of their achievements or power. Just for the people that they are. He is not one of them.” 

Okay, we digress. In the mid ’90s, Bhatt persisted for coffee, nonetheless. They met and he told her a few things flatly, “You don’t have to act. You have to play yourself, that is Sushmita Sen. Also, when did I say you’re a good actor, I’m a damn good director.” So Bhatt-like!

The film he had in mind was about a Miss Universe getting stalked, which became Dastak (1996), a big-budget production, shot in Seychelles, Switzerland… It was the only film Sen was ever going to act in. 

Here, of course, no dialogue coaches, workshops, acting instructor—Sen was, right away, called in for the film’s mahurat. She recalls, “I had mugged up my lines. I came out of the [vanity] van, and there were 40 media persons lined up for the shot. Bhatt Saab said, ‘Let them watch. It’s after all Miss Universe’s mahurat’. Before I was to give my shot, he changed my entire scene.”

“It became about a woman dealing with a man lunching at a morgue, from whom she has to collect a dead body. I was 22. No acting experience. For two years, I’d been professionally trained to be a lady. Here, I was to show aggression, that I don’t understand, throwing my earrings at the morgue man. I wasn’t getting it right. Bhatt Saab began to tell [brother-partner] Mukesh, ‘Yeh kisko leke aaye ho? She doesn’t know anything!’”

It’s at this point Sen broke. She told Bhatt off: “I told you I can’t act. I’m done. You can’t insult me, in front of all these people. There was a showdown.” Bhatt retorted, “That’s the anger [I was looking for]. Now show it in the film’. This is where Bhatt Saab is Bhatt Saab.” 

The entire posse of media folk around her were actually ‘junior artistes’, brought in, holding cameras, pretending to be press!

Dastak, Sen says, got almost entirely shot with her first takes, given how raw she was, as a performer, and how she might feel spent/exhausted, with multiple dabs at the same scene. 

The ’90s, of course, were another time, even as they were times that were changing. Looking back, Sen argues, “Thank God for the world that existed back then—I would’ve never been an actor by now.” 

What followed Dastak is Alice in Bombay/Bollywood, where everyone, biggest names onwards, knew her already, from her pageant stint. A story I had heard about Sen, which only she can verify is if she first met Amitabh Bachchan in the men’s loo. Dying to pee and no place to go, she walked into the men’s loo, and there was Bachchan saying hi to her… True story? Apparently not.

“This could’ve happened with [me and] someone else. It’s possible. Lucky for whoever saw me in the men’s room. But if it was Mr Bachchan, I’d remember!” 

For all its usual highs and lows, Sen did become a legit Bollywood star. The acting experience, or lack thereof, didn’t count for much. What did, in some sense, if you wish to place her in the pantheon is how many Bengali actors become Bollywood heroines. 

As in, somehow the male equivalent of Sen, right from Rakhee, Sharmila Tagore, down to Kajol, Rani Mukerji etc, are usually Kapoors or Khans. Rather than male Bengali leads. For the heck of a conversation, I ask her why that is so. She sighs, “It’s an interesting thought. But with due respect to Bengali men, Bengali women are something else!” Point taken.

The other thing that Sen has in common with a full constellation of female Bollywood stars is the number of them who come from defence services’ backgrounds. Their parents having served in the forces—from Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma, Preity Zinta, Lara Dutta, Aishwarya Rai, Neha Dhupia, Gul Panag… 

You lose count, really. And this is equally true for women in film crews you bump into often. Sen’s dad served in the Indian Air Force.

She has clearly thought about this phenomenon before: “I think if you’re going to be an outsider [in any industry], it helps to be raised with certain qualities that services’ kids have. Our fathers get posted to a new location every three years, which means everything changes for you—your uncle-aunties, friends, school… This makes you grounded as a person, adapting to new places.”

The other thing Army daughters enjoy, I reckon, growing up in closed cantonments, is a sense of freedom—that isn’t as common among girls, living in the towns/cities right outside the gated, services’ establishments. Sen argues, “On the other hand, we grow up over-protected, but that also makes us fearless.”

Between class IX to XII, Sen went to Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute (AFGJI) in New Delhi. It’s a school I’m familiar with, having been to The Air Force School, next-door, around the same time. 

A shout-out is warranted, only because AFGJI is a unique kinda school, for classes merging, wherein airmen’s kids study along with officers’ and civilian’s children. But more so, the school has an inclusive section dedicated to special children, struggling with certain mental faculties. 

Sen is happy I bring this up, since it did influence her personality at an early age: “The beauty of interacting with special children in that school was that you got graded for participating in competitions, where you help the other child win, in order to win yourself. 

“We got graded 25/100 for just that. So, for instance, you had to push the wheelchair in a run, and you lost, if both of you did. It takes the approach that we aren’t different from each other. Only, that I can’t move forward [in society], unless all of us do.”

After school, Sen had her eyes set on an economics degree from St Stephen’s College. While in line for admissions, realizing that she hadn’t made the percentage cut-off, heartbroken, she headed off to a nightclub the same evening. It’s what happened on that night, that she never had to go to college, ever. 

She remembers, “There was a gentleman at the nightclub named Ranjan Bakshi, looking at me. He claimed to be from The Times of India, and wanted me to apply for Miss India. You know how it is, in Delhi…”

Yes, we all do. Sensing a creepy uncle-type, Sen’s friends gave her cover, fobbing off the old gent. But her group of friends returned soon after, with the same man, who had The Times of India business card, asking to be taken more seriously. 

This is how she landed at the Miss India contest. There was also the parental block before that. Her father was upset. He had IAS aspirations for his daughter. He didn’t speak to her for some time. 

Even when she had entered Miss India, she had to convince him about the swim-suit round: “I can’t participate in the contest, and not do the swim-suit round, which is part of it. I told him, baba, I have to wear a swimsuit. But I promise you, I will add respect to it. It will not be ‘chhablami’ [crass].”

Sen adds, “When I won Miss India—for my dad, being a defence person, it was me representing India. He bawled his lungs out. I had given him the biggest moment, being his daughter.”  

This is the point in the interview Sen is in tears herself; asking for tissue. She came good, even further, for her father, when she was awarded an honorary D.Litt by NR Narayana Murthy, in Kolkata, many years later. She was unwell. Her dad went to receive the degree, on her behalf. So much for never entering college.

• • •

The reason Sen will be Miss Universe for Indians, foremost, forever, is also her stardom belongs to a time when mass culture itself was so monocultural. 

We followed a handful of celebs. Information on them was scarce. Mystique, supreme. There developed a para-social relationship with the star. Wherein we formed our own opinions on them based on the little we know. And we took immense pleasure in it. 

As a kid, when Sen won the global title, I confess to her, we’d gossiped about how she had dumped her boyfriend right after. Feeling sad for the boy we knew nothing about. Rajan, something? “Rajat Tara,” she reminds us. Of course!

“I was the best-man at his wedding in Belgrade,” Sen says, recalling how he remains her BFF still: “I was so fortunate to have him as my first boyfriend. You don’t dump a guy like that. You could outgrow.” That she’s famous and single (as in unmarried) since she was 18—I also wonder if normal dating has been difficult for her.

Sen says hiding who you’re dating is more tiresome: “Takes away too much energy. There are times in my life, when I’ve wanted to give respect to a relationship [by being open about it] and I have, without waiting [for the other person to].”

Which brings me to the X/Twitter post on her relationship with former IPL boss Lalit Modi that blew up social media in 2022. Sen rightly asks me to check my facts. She put out no such post herself (Modi did). 

What she did was respond to the madness on Instagram: “I just posted for how silence must not be misconstrued with weakness. I wanted people to know that I was laughing. And got done with it.”

“You can’t be 47, in the public eye for 30 years, and be afraid of the public. You have a relationship with them. They can get strained sometimes, as with all relationships. But that’s okay. I was looking at memes calling me gold-digger, but monetizing the same content, online. Also, let’s get the facts straight. I don’t even like gold. I like diamonds!” 

Okay, switching gears to something more serious: “Oh, that wasn’t serious,” Sen chides. Obviously not. Her relationships are not what we know her for. 

In many ways, Sen is the female equivalent of Shah Rukh Khan. And I don’t mean SRK in 2023, with two blockbusters under his belt. But all the years before it as well, wherein people never lost the personal connect with the star, regardless of hits/flops. 

As with Sen, who’s equally articulate, can charm the pants off you, and while she hadn’t been onscreen for nearly a decade— people remained interested in what she said, and more so, what she did. In terms of life’s choices. 

Take the case of her two children, Renee, 24, Alisah, 18. Both of whom she fought in the court to gain her right to adopt them as a single mother. 

The impact that must’ve had on millions of Indians, similarly looking to be parents, but not necessarily out of wedlock. And that you couldn’t be a “fertile, single woman,” and adopt a child at all: “The last such person to do that [before me] was a 29-year-old divorcee. And it wasn’t me alone, who won the court case. It was worth the fight. There were so many of us [in the same situation]. Even when we won the court case, and I was 24—once I brought my [adopted] child home, there was problem at the passport office. They refused to leave the line on who’s the father, blank.”

“I had to go back to the judge, who issued the letter to the passport office stating that a refusal to do this would be contempt of court. What happiness, we are jumping timelines!”

A decade later, she knocked on the Supreme Court, because the laws didn’t allow you to adopt a girl child, twice. Which is strange: “At the orphanage, there are no boys. Even if there are a few, they get adopted immediately. There are parents who have already adopted, but they can’t bring another baby girl. That defeats the purpose.”

“It took us 10 years to win that case. We won on November 17. On November 19, which is my birthday, my [second] daughter came home. It’s as if she was waiting for this, to be born. Of course, you can say ‘not applicable’ to a father’s name in [her government] documents as well!”

It’s an empty nest for her now, as Sen puts it: “Both my children have now moved into their own lives. I’m learning to be jobless [on that front]!” Which explains her changing priorities, she suggests. Only, in July, 2022, she suffered a massive heart attack, which is becoming inexplicably common at middle-age, lately. 

Sen already has a family history of a heart condition—a reason both she and her brother (Rajeev) get medically examined, regularly. She was “hyper-active, shooting” for the third season of Aarya.

Sen says, “This was all of a sudden. I had just been checked. It couldn’t be the heart. But I had a 95 per cent blockage in my artery. In the 45 minutes of that episode, the last 15 minutes of which I was running parallel between life and death, I just knew that God has plans for me.”

“Miraculously, the arteries opened up for the blood to pass through. The doctor was laughing with me while putting stents on the operating table. It’s like a new lease of life. I finish my 47th year, with so much that has happened.”

Sen turns 48 on Nov 19, 2023, a day after this is published.

Writer Anu Singh Choudhary is more confident than nervous as the third season of Aarya premières today. Her belief comes from the writers’ room that creator-director Ram Madhvani made for the Sushmita Sen-starrer.

“Ram has an intensive writers’ room. Sometimes, we’d work for 10 hours a day. He is relentless. After every season, I decide that I am never going to work on this [again]. Yet, here I am,” laughs Choudhary, who had Khushboo Agarwal Raj and Amit Raj as co-writers.

Season on season, leading lady Sen only elevates the crime drama that has its roots in the Dutch show, Penoza. Choudhary praises her, saying, “I have been on the set a couple of times since the first season, and to see her transform into the character was amazing. She lifted the material with her strength and confidence. The written words were elevated to a level that the [dialogues] didn’t matter after a while; only her imbibing them did.”

What warms Choudhary’s heart is how the Disney+ Hotstar series, centred on a woman compelled to rule the drug world while protecting her kids fiercely, is embraced by women and men alike.

“Aarya is one of those rare shows that is led by a woman, but has everybody excited. Men watch it with as much involvement. It’s the story of a homemaker, who becomes a don. She is surviving in a man’s world with her head held high, and will kill if need be. For a platform and producers to have the courage to back this story is rare.”

It’s difficult for an actor to be surprised by scripts after a four-decade career in the movies. But life has a way of springing pleasant surprises. For Ila Arun, the third season of Aarya was just that. “Director Ram Madhvani was searching for an actor who could represent the royalty of Rajasthan. I had portrayed a modern-day queen in a play before. So, I think Ram trusted my theatre experience too,” she smiles.

Collaborating with Sushmita Sen only added to the joy of being part of the Disney+ Hotstar series. Arun is all praise for the leading lady. “She is our Miss Universe. That’s a stature no one can take away from her. Then, she did well in movies and made a crackling debut on OTT. She is tall not only physically, but also in her approach to work.”

From Shyam Benegal’s Mandi (1983) to Amit Masurkar’s Sherni (2021), Arun has starred in powerful movies, choosing roles that creatively satisfy her. Over the decades, she has seen the industry going through several changes, most notable being the empowerment of female actors.

“Today, strong female characters are being written. I have the highest respect for Vidya Balan, who has done unconventional roles and challenged [male stars]. Shabana [Azmi] is another example. She is my role model.”

And yet, there is one change she awaits—of senior actors getting deserving opportunities. “Films have roles of mothers, widows and teachers. It would be better to cast women belonging to that age [bracket], who are talented and physically fit, than make young women play them by sporting grey hair.”

It’s his last interview in what has been a long day. So, is Anil Kapoor tired? “I’m just warming up,” he quips, ready to chat about the second part of The Night Manager. Perhaps, it is this relentless spirit that has aided his 40-year run in an otherwise fickle industry.

Over the past decade, the senior actor has carefully picked strong roles, shining as bright as the protagonist. It’s all in the mind, he says. “Even if I have four scenes in a film, or a cameo, I feel that I am the leading man on that given day. Of course, I don’t overstep the boundary. I give due respect to people who, in that moment, are responsible for the film to have a certain positioning. But internally, I do my best to not feel inferior to anybody. I don’t try to prove anything to anyone unless someone steps on my toes,” he shares.

Regardless of his screen time, Kapoor is dependable as ever—be it as the selfish father in 'Jugjugg Jeeyo' (2022), or in his latest Disney+ Hotstar offering. In the adaptation of the British original of the same name, he plays the antagonist, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with leading man Aditya Roy Kapur. Kapoor, however, credits creator Sandeep Modi’s vision and the writing for the series’ well-rounded characters.

“When the script and book [from which the show is adapted] are fantastic, you can add nuances to a character. Sometimes people don’t work hard, and expect great results. If you don’t prepare well, you might do good work, but not the kind that has happened in this show.”

That said, the senior actor is quick to admit that the crime drama came with some risks—ones that he was willing to take, given his faith in the material.

“There are some boxes that a project has to tick—the story, the script, my character and so on. With 'The Night Manager', I took a chance on a few things. For instance, I was working with the platform and Banijay [production house] for the first time. Sandeep is a [relatively] new director, who had co-directed 'Aarya'. I have worked on an adaptation before with 24, but I was also a producer on that project. Here, I was just an actor. Fortunately, all these [risks] paid off.”

You’d think that the Hindi adaptation of The Night Manager would be viewed as a prestige addition to one’s filmography. But Sandeep Modi, who has served as the creator of the Anil Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur-led thriller, remembers being dissuaded by many from taking up the project.

“I got so many calls from people saying, ‘Are you mad? Are you going to remake a classic? Don’t touch it.’ They said it would be the end of my career, which is [taking off] after the success of Aarya’s first season,” begins Modi.

The creator-director couldn’t be happier to have taken the chance on the Disney+ Hotstar series, which has been praised since its release. It is an official adaptation of the 2016 British series of the same name, fronted by Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie. Modi shares that he let go of a movie he was making at the time. “I liked the idea of [retelling] this story, and gave two-and-a-half years of my life to this. I stopped working on the film, and the advertisements I used to make. I got consumed by this tale.”

The spy thriller tells the story of a night manager at a luxury hotel, who is recruited to infiltrate the inner circle of an arms dealer. The pressure of remaking a popular global show can be immense. Modi spent months cracking the crux of the story, and the characters’ motivations. He shares,

“I grew fonder of the tale after the first six months. I enjoyed it more when I realised that it is a universal story. I didn’t need to borrow from Jonathan Pine and Richard Roper [Hiddleston and Laurie’s characters respectively]. These characters are people around me, if I look at them closely. The moment I found out why a guy, who works in a hotel, would turn into a spy, everything came together for me.”

Returning to India after a shoot, Sikandar Kher intended to skim through the script of Monica O My Darling during the flight. But a few pages in, he was sucked deep into the quirky world of Vasan Bala’s neo-noir comedy.

“When I was in Indonesia shooting for a movie, Monica O My Darling’s casting team said Vasan wanted to talk to me. So, we had a Zoom call, he sent me the script, and I requested him to give me 10 days [to respond]. When I was flying back, I opened the script on my phone just to see what [it entailed]. In under an hour, I had finished reading the script on my phone,” laughs Kher, who plays Nishikant Adhikari in the Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi and Radhika Apte-starrer.

On the surface, his character is an entitled, cold-hearted man, but the actor lent wit and irreverence to make him almost likeable. Kher, who has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor: Film category for the mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards, says Bala gave him the freedom to shape his character the way he wanted.

“Vasan ropes in actors who can bring something to the character. He likes to be surprised by his actors. I figured that Nishikant is from a broken family, and is bitter that he has not gotten his due in the company. So, I [lent him an air of] disdain.”

Kher is glad that with projects like Aarya and the Netflix film, he has been able to prove his mettle as an artiste. “I’ve been acting for 16 years. I was hoping that this day would come at some point. [Monica] had a wide reach, and people enjoyed the film.”

Sikander Kher has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor (Male): Film category for Monica O My Darling.

The other nominees are:

- Amit Sial (Qala)

- Anil Kapoor (Thar)

- Gajraj Rao (Maja Ma)

- Naseeruddin Shah (Gehraiyaan)

- Roshan Mathew (Darlings)

There are 16 categories that the public can vote in. Log on to www.radiocity.in/hitlistott to cast your vote.

Voting lines close on February 22.

It was in the year 1992, when the then 17-year-old Kajol, still in school, was all set to make her big screen debut with Bekhudi. The actor, who completes three decades in the Hindi film industry this month, is still ruling hearts.

Inevitably overwhelmed, Kajol says, “I didn’t even realize that I was completing 30 years. This is a shocker. Pata nahin chala, 30 saal guzar gaye. I’m overwhelmed by this. It feels like I started (my career) just yesterday. Then I look at my kids and I’m like, ‘Bacche bhi bade ho gaye hain toh time toh paas hua hoga zarur’. I feel grateful that there have been so many people who have given me such wonderful scripts and characters — from (filmmakers) Abbas-Mustan and Karan (Johar) to Adi (Aditya Chopra) and Ajay (Devgn, actor), who was not my husband at that time.”

The 47-year-old will now experiment with the web space and will soon be seen in a digital series. While she confirms the news by saying, “I’m coming on OTT,” she also adds that she can’t “really speak much” about the project.

Interestingly, not many are aware that her web debut could have happened years ago, as filmmaker Ram Madhvani had Kajol in his mind when he was remaking the Dutch thriller Penoza, which was later remade as the web show Aarya with actor Sushmita Sen. Ask her if she has watched the show, and she says, “I did, and I liked the script very much. But it didn’t work out for me at that time.” Was it due to date issues? “There were other reasons for it,” she says.

Kajol is the most recent Bollywood star to receive an invitation to be a part of the Oscars Committee. The actor, who will have voting privileges at the 95th Academy Awards, feels “very grateful” for this opportunity.

Ask if she feels any pressure about the responsibilities that come with it, and she says, “Dekha jayega jab hoga.”

The second season of Aarya left the audience with the promise that the protagonist, essayed by Sushmita Sen, was ready to rule the drug ring in Rajasthan with an iron fist. Now, creator Ram Madhvani and Sandeep Modi have charted the story ahead. Word is that the third instalment will go on floors in December with Sen stepping into the shoes of the reluctant drug lord.

“The cast will begin the prep in October, brushing up on their basic ammunition training and doing readings before they face the camera. The bigger chunk will be shot in Mumbai, with a small portion envisioned in Rajasthan,” says a source.

Sikandar Kher will reprise his role of Daulat, who has gone on to become a trusted figure in Aarya’s life. Considering the Disney+ Hotstar series is known for its fine writing, the actor admits he is eager to know the plot twists that the creators have lined up this time around.

Kher says, “I am looking forward to being back on the sets of Aarya in the coming months. Daulat is a complex yet likeable character, and playing him allows me to [explore the different] layers of his personality.”

Actor Sikandar Kher’s career has turned upside down for good ever since he starred in the two seasons of Aarya. He calls this the busiest phase of his career so far. “Of course it is, 100%, no two ways about that,” he quips. And the actor recently won an award for Aarya too.

The 40-year-old says, “It’s amazing to get awards. You just have to keep working, with no attachment to anything. What matters more than awards is what excites you. I won’t say I have waited for this phase because I wasn’t too busy as an actor before this. I have just waited for work. And there is so much of it happening now that it is a great thing for everybody.”

Kher began his career with Woodstock Villa in 2008, which failed to create any buzz. Since then, the actor had been dabbling in different genres of films such as Players (2012), Tere Bin Laden 2 (2016) and Sooryavanshi (2021), until OTT happened to him. Has his criteria of choosing a project changed now?

He says, “Yes, it was very different at that point of time when I was a newcomer. We didn’t have any OTT platforms then, and now the whole industry has changed. There are more options now as an actor. I always wanted to do different things. I try to not repeat myself now.”

Also, his focus, he adds, was never on box office. “Mujhe iss baare mein koi idea hi nahin hai. Obviously, you like to do well, it’s not like every actor will only give hits. That’s unrealistic and I wish that happened,” he says.

They are strong, fierce, vulnerable, spirited, ambitious, and even vengeful if need be. Mothers in recent web projects can be described as all this and more. From actor Sushmita Sen entering the narcotics business to protect her kids in Aarya, and actor Sakshi Tanwar out to find the killers of her daughter in Mai, to actor Rasika Dugal exploring the complexities of motherhood as she deals with her husband’s infidelity in Out Of Love — the characters of mothers we are seeing now are more complex, nuanced and layered than they were ever before.

Dugal is elated that motherhood is no longer glorified or oversimplified. “A mother-child relationship is no longer shown as perfect or devoid of conflict. In many stories, we see the fears, anxieties and confusions of being a parent, co-existing with the joys of it. Even though I have no experience of being a parent in real life, Dr Meera Kapoor and her relationship with her son Abhi, especially in season two of Out Of Love, gave me a glimpse of how demanding yet beautiful parenting can be,” she shares.

Actor Raveena Tandon in Aranyak and actor Madhuri Dixit Nene in The Fame Game, are other such characters who drove the narratives with their courage and fearlessness when it came to their children. “For a long time, we had a very fixed notion of how a mother needs to be portrayed on screen. Now, the writing has caught up with the times and we are showing women of today, and that stands true for my show, The Fame Game, with Madhuri,” says director Bejoy Nambiar.

To this, director Vinay Waikul, who helmed Aranyak, adds, “Life is not unidimensional, and that stands true for the characters of mothers on screen. This realisation has changed the whole narrative.” And this is something screenwriter Charudutt Acharya agrees with, adding that the “concept of a stay-at-home mom is also changing”.

According to actor Sahher Bambba, who played the role of a mother to a 33-year-old on screen at the age of 23, the change is empowering in many ways. “Now, cinema is reflecting the reality, which is that there are many facets to motherhood. Back in the day, after a woman hit a certain age, it would be the end of her career. Now, it doesn’t stand true, and it is because of such diverse roles,” she says.

However, there is still a long way to go, feels actor Kitu Gidwani, who recently played a mother in the show, Potluck. “We don’t believe that older women can be hot, happy, successful, vibrant, intelligent and path-breaking. We still have a big fear of older women in this country. Maybe the younger ones have more scope, but not older women. For instance, we are still [predominantly seeing women play] a mother supporting her kids’ decisions, and stuff like that. Where are the guts to show women breaking and finding their own? I want to see that, and hope it comes soon,” ends Gidwani.

Actor Sikandar Kher’s career took a 180 degree turn with web series Aarya that released in 2020, where he played a hitman named Daulat. And he credits the web space for bringing about a change in his professional trajectory. “I would most definitely credit the web space for giving me visibility like never before. As an actor, you need and want people to see your work and your abilities. And when you get that many eyeballs, filmmakers also get the chance to view you in their projects and the characters they create,” he explains.

Talking further about how his successful stint on the web has helped him, the actor says, “You can do different roles but if a film doesn’t work, nobody can see your work. That’s when you keep your head down and keep going for it. But Aarya has done well and the character of Daulat has been loved so much. It has 100% helped my career graph.”

But it’s not just actors who have been benefitted from the OTT bandwagon, believes Kher. Stressing on how it has provided a platform for everyone to showcase their versatility, he says, “It works the same way for writers and technicians. There’s so much work for everybody today and that’s helping everyone across the board. It’s a great time for the industry and creative people.”

With the digital medium opening up newer creative possibilities, the 40-year-old feels it has also brought audiences from across the world together and has had a transformative impact on cinema as a whole with language barriers blurring. “You’ve a Parasite (2019) that won the Oscar. So many people watched it. If you’ve made a good project in any language whatsoever, it will be watched all over the world. It’s amazing for us. OTT has a big role to play there,” Kher ends.

He has spent over three decades in the film industry and is largely known for essaying negative roles. But actor Vishwajeet Pradhan says stepping into the shoes of an antagonist was not a deliberate move. “Feroz Khan (director-actor) gave me a break as a villain in Yalgaar (1992) and people liked me in that avatar. So, it (playing the villain) went on. Playing an antagonist opens up the canvas for portrayal of a character, as compared to the goody-goody hero,” says the actor, as he adds, “The antagonist has more shades and spice. Also, the negative character teaches through its own example — what not to do in life,” says the actor.

Talking about the difference between a yesteryear antagonist and that of today, Pradhan adds, “Negative characters nowadays have become earthy or desi, more grounded in the ethos. Earlier, we had highly stylised Ajit (Khan) saab, Pran saab and K N Singh (actors known for playing negative parts). The later ones mostly followed in their footsteps. Now, we see negative characters that are more tangible — writing-wise and performance-wise.”

Pradhan ventured into the OTT space with the web series, Aarya, and he’s in love with the medium. “OTT has been a lifesaver during the pandemic for those stuck at home. At the same time, the exposure to world entertainment has made the audience more mature and open to new ideas. With so much work, actors — old and new — have found opportunities. Our industry has been known for typecasting actors or repeating the same ones over and over,” says the 56-year-old actor, who is glad that he received “a lot of love and appreciation for playing Sampat in Aarya”.

Pradhan goes on to talk about how the filmmakers of today are starkly different from those from the yesteryear. “The makers now are more disciplined. Big actors such as Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan, Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan and others are all sticklers for time. This is a change in our industry that I love. Projects start and finish on time. Earlier, due to the lackadaisical attitude of some leading men, the films would drag for three-four years. I am glad that an undisciplined lot of actors have been kicked out,” the Sangharsh (1999) and Raaz (2002) actor signs off.

Life has not been a walk in the park for Ankur Bhatia, whose left his cushy job in finance for a Bollywood career. His journey in the entertainment world surely had its ups and downs, but that didn’t deter the actor from making his mark. “I did not have formal training in acting, nor had I done theatre. My failures have taught me to become a better actor. But I won’t change anything about my journey,” says Bhatia, who credits his wife for supporting him financially while he experimented with acting.

Post Ram Madhvani’s Aarya, things turned around for Bhatia, who now is enjoying the opportunity to pick and choose his roles. He is convinced that “people have begun to notice my craft”. He says, “It is the correct time for me. Had this happened any sooner, I probably would have made wrong choices. I cherish the position I am in today. It allows me to make the right decisions rather than grabbing any opportunity that comes my way.”

Having wrapped up the shoot of the second instalment of Crackdown that showcases him as Tariq, he says, “The action, thrill and drama in the second season is on another level. I was surprised by what we were filming and the locations — Rajasthan, Kashmir, among others — we picked to shoot at. I have always wanted to be part of an intense actioner, and Crackdown gave me that chance.”

Bhatia is also gearing up to play a wacky character in Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bloody Daddy that also features Shahid Kapoor. While he is not allowed to divulge much, the actor says, “I have always been a fan of Ali Abbas Zafar’s work. It was sheer delight to collaborate with him. The film has been nothing short of a joyride for me.”