Showing posts with label Saari Raat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saari Raat. Show all posts
Sonata: A tale of 3 women and one night in Mumbai
7:41 AM
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 12, 2017)
Aparna Sen first watched
Mahesh Elkunchwar's one act play Sonata 13 years ago. “I was interested
in the interplay of emotions, the textured characterisation and dramatic
ups and downs of three single, childless, 50-something women who'd been
friends since college,“ says the filmmaker-actress who chose then to
adapt another play, Saari Raat, by Badal Sircar, with her daughter,
Konkana Sen Sharma, as one half of a married couple. “I thought it would
be challenging to shoot in one space for an entire evening. I had to
choreograph
in a certain way,“ Aparna reminisces.
Saari Raat was her short for the 'Zeal For Unity' film project, which was to showcase the works of six Indian and six Pakistani filmmakers. “My film was appreciated at festivals. But now, the climate of our country is anti-Pakistan and the producers have put the release on hold,“ she sighs.
When she realised her short would not open soon, she decided to give the one-night narrative one more try, this time as a feature film. “I had a small budget and tight schedule so I decided to make Sonata in Mumbai. I thought three really good actors would bring the play alive on screen,“ Aparna says.
Shabana Azmi was cast as a whimsical, Bengali woman, while Aparna stepped in to play a prudish North Indian. “Shabana sings well but her voice has never been used in a film before. Even if the singing was slightly flawed, it would seem natural because her character does not do riyaz before singing a Rabindra Sangeet,“ she says. “Everyone wanted Lillete (Dubey) as the third friend. The producer insisted I act in the film and since I cannot sing a single note, I played the only character left in the trio,“ she says.
The film will have a different climax from the play to give it a global context. “I brought in a 'bai' to cut across classes and bring in another female perspective. I've also used a transgender character, a friend of the trio in college who underwent a sex change. Everything was with Mahesh's permission,“ she signs off.
My motherhood hormones drove me mad-Konkona Sen Sharma
8:40 AM
Konkona Sen Sharma will be seen in Gour Hari Dastaan after a considerable gap
Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; July 27, 2015)
With two films Gour Hari Dastaan and Saari Raat
premiering at the London Indian Film Festival, Konkona Sen Sharma is
back with a bang. In fact, the actress who was missing from the screen,
post motherhood, will have six films releasing this year — three Bengali
and three Hindi starting with GHD. The actress had taken a break from
acting and the first film she signed after that was GHD that has her
playing a 60-year-old woman! “My motherhood hormones drove me mad. It’s
the first film I did after my baby. I am like God, what did I do,
playing a lady (Gour Hari Das’ wife) who is more than double my age,”
exclaims Konkona, who nonetheless loves taking up challenges and playing
a woman whose age spans from 45-65 was definitely one. “It was daunting
to play someone who is living and has a certain personality and depth.
It was quite tricky too because at 65 you are not bed-ridden or someone
who barely speaks. She is a woman who is cooking, working, talking on
the phone — in short doing everything, but just a little older. I
observed her and internalised the process, but don’t know if have done
it successfuly,” says the actress modestly.
Ask her what prompted her to make a comeback with this film and she says she found the story very moving. “The basic premise is about a man Gour Hari Das, who struggled to get recognition from the government, but it has been made contemporary with the issues we are facing today, the quality of life and kind of freedom we have,” elaborates Konkana who is also excited about Saari Raat, an 80-minute film directed by her mother Aparna Sen. “It is also special for another reason and that is it’s a collaboration between three Indian and three Pakistani directors that Zee has initiated as part of the process of integration,” she says.
Konkona, who has done several films including Mr & Mrs Iyer, 15 Park Avenue and Iti Mrinalini helmed by her mother says she is her favourite director. “It’s wonderful working with her again and again. I have that much trust in her artistic sense and faith in her vision. We get along well, and are friends in real life since I was a young girl. I sometimes tell her things that I can’t tell even my friends. She is very broadminded, progressive, bohemian, an icon for women everywhere. It’s a privilege growing up as the daughter of a strong and resilient woman,” elucidates Konkona. At the same time, she says it’s hazardous working with family. “We have arguments over food or hair on the sets, which goes into the next day, but the pros outweigh the cons” smiles Konkona, who even acted with her mother in Titli and Iti Mrinalini. “In both the films our reel world was closer to our real world. So I didn’t have to work on the dynamics or body language,” she quips. In Titli, she played Aparna Sen’s daughter and in Iti Mrinalini, a semi-autobiographical film of Aparna, she played a younger version of her mother.
Her line-up of films in the near future includes Talvar (based on the double murder case in Noida) directed by Meghna Gulzar and Lipstick Wale Sapne about four women helmed by Alankrita Shrivastava. Having worked with several female directors, ask her if it is different being directed by women and she says, “It is not based on genre. I don’t like to stereotype because it limits us. It depends on person to person. There are women directors who are not considerate and sensitive, and there are male directors who are sensitive and not brash or aggressive.”
Soon, Konkona herself is planning to turn director. “The script is ready and I have organised the funds too, only the details have to be sorted out,” signs off the actress.
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