Mumbai Diaries’ second season shows many aspects, from the rigour demanded of doctors, to the devastation that was brought on by the 2005 Mumbai floods. But when we meet Konkona Sen Sharma, our conversation is centred on the show’s most urgent topic—domestic abuse. Sen Sharma’s Chitra seems to have almost healed from her abusive marriage. Yet, when faced with her perpetrator again, she begins to break.

“This time, we dove deep into Chitra’s anxiety and panic attacks. It’s well-researched and well-written,” begins the actor.

She walked into the role with the painful knowledge that women across strata face domestic violence. “It’s heartbreaking how common it is. Women who are smart, powerful, well-placed are all capable of being at the receiving end of it. Even toxic relationships are cycles that are hard to get out of. I have worked closely with women who have been through it. There are common patterns.”

Sen Sharma’s The Rapist explores the subject of sexual violence too. But a glaring factor separates the two. “There, we delve into the rapist and the survivor. This is different because it’s not a stranger. Here is a man she trusted and loved.” To understand the intricacies better, the actor referred to Roddy Doyle’s book, The Woman Who Walked into Doors. “It reflects this complex equation, where you are in love with the man, but battling abuse at his hands. It helped me navigate this character.” 

Bringing such a subject to screen, though necessary, is not easy. It helped that she had long-time collaborator Parambrata Chatterjee playing her husband. “We have worked closely in so many films that there is an existing bond. I was comfortable working with him.” This comfort also helped them cut off from their characters.

“During the shoot, we both were obsessed with ghost stories. You have to learn to be neutral so you can you hold the character’s pain.” The Amazon Prime Video series also depicts how Chitra has a younger suitor in Satyajeet Dubey’s character Ahaan. What does she think of the track? “It was cute. There is hope for women who come out of toxic relationships.”

After the reviews of Mumbai Diaries’ first season poured in, showrunner-creator Nikkhil Advani sat with Aparna Purohit, head of India originals, Amazon Prime Video, and meticulously went through the feedback. The objective was simple: figure out what had worked, what hadn’t and what needed to be done going forward. The result is the Mohit Raina and Konkona Sen Sharma-led second season that revisits the 2005 Mumbai floods.

Advani begins, “We found out the term 26/11 [on which the first season was centred] was triggering for people. It [was a subject] many people didn’t want to revisit. Plus, there weren’t enough cliffhangers. But what really worked was that the show was a well-put together ensemble [drama]. Every character had stayed with the audience. The production design, medical jargon, and [treatment] worked.”

Before the team began writing the second edition, Advani knew that every episode needed a cliffhanger. “This time every episode has a high ending,” he says. In addition, they needed more of what they had done right the last time around— build memorable characters through which pressing issues can be highlighted.

“The second season’s theme is abuse—of infrastructure, media, power, and even in interpersonal relationships. Domestic and sexual abuse became critical to mirror what we had in mind. We spent days staring at statistics [that said] 80 per cent of women have faced abuse in a public place. Chitra [Sen Sharma’s character] is the strength of the hospital, but she is becoming a domestic violence victim again. I wanted to show how even strong women miss [the signs] when they are gaslit.”

Parambrata Chattopadhyay was an interesting choice to play Chitra’s ex. Through his character of a soft-spoken, kind and brilliant doctor, Advani wanted to show how even seemingly harmless people can be predators.

“I could be standing in a room full of people, and every man there could possibly be a predator. Param was the most affable man to cast for this. Another aspect that worked was that Param and Konkona have worked together a lot. We needed to take the character places where she had to be alone with the actor, and it is a dark subject. So, she had to trust her co-actor. When I suggested Param, she instantly [agreed]. There is an incredible scene in the fifth episode, which I could have only pulled off with these two actors.”