Talking about the emotional turmoil of a cop in Hundred, Lara Dutta on why she picked the web show for her comeback
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; May 3, 2020)

Last seen in Welcome To New York (2018), Lara Dutta Bhupathi is back on the scene with the web series, Hundred, which marks her digital debut. "It just fell into place. I wasn't actively looking for anything. I thought it would be interesting to be part of the web culture."

The offer landed in her lap rather suddenly. "Though I have known Ruchi [director Narain] for years, we never spoke about working together. I always wanted to be directed by a woman. I like her work, so, I thought I'd give it a shot when she made the offer."

At odds with the roles she has played in Bollywood till date, her character in Hundred was age-appropriate. Dutta's Soumya Shukla is a cop, a part she has never played before. "The experience was educational. I needed to get the body language and nuances on point. I even met a couple of women DCPs to get a better insight."

Digging deep into her character, Dutta says she hasn't explored a role that is as layered as this one. "[She is] ambitious, unapologetic and frustrated, and also faces issues in her marital life. There were so many aspects to her persona that intrigued me."

What also drew her to the show was co-star Rinku Rajguru, best remembered for Sairaat (2016). "We are generations apart. I thought we would make for an interesting combo. We come from different worlds."

Shooting for the Hotstar web series in different locations of Mumbai was an eye-opener. "Despite living in Mumbai for 25 years, I didn't realise how much more there is to the city. I got to see the gritty underbelly as we shot in real locations."

Despite hubby, tennis champ Mahesh Bhupathi, being her sounding board, she refers to daughter Saira as her biggest critic. "She is excited to see me on screen, but also keeps critiquing."

Lara Dutta is using the extra time provided by the Coronavirus lockdown to enroll in two courses
Sonil Dedhia (HINDUSTAN TIMES; April 26, 2020)

“My husband (Mahesh Bhupathi) says I had locked him down even before our Prime Minister Narendra Modi did,” quips Lara Dutta who is practising self quarantine by spending quality time with her family.

Lara is also keeping herself busy by enrolling in online courses. “I have gone back to studying, something I wanted to do for a long time. I have signed up with Harvard University for two courses (Ancient Egypt and Pryamids of Giza, and Christianity Through its Scriptures). These were subjects that I always found fascinating but never had the time. I have an eight-year-old daughter and a husband working from home and also the entire house to look after so it’s been quite hectic,” she shares.

The actor adds she has no complaints: “It isn’t as bad as it seems. We have been in lockdown for over a month. I feel life has just slowed down which is a great thing as it has given us time to indulge in things which we otherwise don’t have the time for. Like, Mahesh had never entered the kitchen but our daughter (Saira) made him do it and cook her lunch. He also planted a few saplings earlier this week with her. We also exercise together, so it’s like spending quality time together. I can’t say that I have been bored or have an urge to do anything.”

Lara marks her digital debut in the series Hundred where she will be seen playing a cop. Talking about exploring the new medium she says, “I have always been fascinated by the digital medium because of the variety of content that is available. The writing is far superior to the film medium. I wasn’t actively looking for a role but when this came to me, it was an extremely layered and complex character which I haven’t been able to explore in my career so far. It was a great opportunity for me to do something new.”

Lara Dutta Bhupathi talks about the reasons for her hiatus from Bollywood and why with the web boom, the role of female characters have become more interesting
Titas Chowdhury (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 28, 2020)

Lara Dutta Bhupathi is looking forward to a new innings in her professional life. The actor, who decided to put her career “on the back burner” after the birth of her daughter Saira, is all set to foray into the digital space soon. Ask Lara about it and she says that meatier and layered female characters are the reason why the web fascinates her. “I love the fact that because of the boom in the digital space, more women are finally getting the opportunity to be writers and directors. Women-centric stories and layered characters for women are being conceived. All this while, invariably, female actors played the girlfriend, the wife or the romantic interest of the male lead and hardly had anything else to do. It’s incredible to see such fresh kind of writing and the projects that are now being made on the digital space,” says Lara.

The Housefull (2010) actor, who was crowned Miss Universe in 2000, marked her film debut with Andaaz in 2003. She feels “really fortunate” to not have been exposed to the dark underbelly of the Hindi film industry. “We’ve witnessed some incredible conversations that took place in the industry in the last few years, such as #MeToo and pay disparity. Being in the industry comes with its own share of challenges but apart from the regular challenges that I faced as an actor such as a film not doing well or missing out on a film, I don’t think I’ve ever really dealt with the ugly side of Bollywood,” says the 41-year-old.

She explains that the main reason of slowing down professionally was the dearth of quality scripts and characters. She says that good roles stop coming to female actors after they reach a certain age. “When I’m in my mid-thirties and I’m getting the same stereotypical roles that I got when I was in my twenties and early thirties, then there’s no challenge involved and that’s when there was dearth of work. That’s the time when you need to weigh the pros and cons and figure out what you want to really do. I thought that if I kept working, paychecks would keep coming in but that would take me away from my home and my kid. So, I didn’t want to do that. It isn’t just about working but also about the quality of work that you want to do,” she elaborates.

Giving a glimpse into a chock-a-block year ahead, Lara shares, “There are two big projects that my production house is working on. They’re being handled internationally. It has been two years of writing and putting the entire team together. This year suddenly looks very eventful.”