New Delhi [India], January 13 : Actor Konkona Sensharma, who garnered critical acclaim for her performance in the film 'Mr and Mrs Iyer', has spilled the beans on how she landed the role.
The film was helmed by none other than her mother, veteran filmaker and actor Aparna Sen. The performance earned her a National Award for Best Actress in 2003.
"I think that firstly, I didn't want to be an actor even after acting in 'Mr and Mrs Iyer', which was my third film. I kept thinking now I have to get a real job. So I was looking at the classifieds in the newspaper once 'Mr and Mrs Iyer' was over. I was so young in my 20s. I thought now I'll have to get a job in publishing or advertising or some such thing...journalism. My mother tricked me into doing the role because she sent me to MA which I had started. Because the MA which was very boring and it was in a very ugly building," Konkona said in an exclusive interview with ANI.
"I went to an international school. So we were doing the same curriculum again and again. I did the same thing in 11 and 12 for A Levels. Milton, Chaucer, Shakespeare and again I did it in college. I was getting very bored. My mother said, 'Please, you go do some research for me in Chennai'. (I) Happily, went there, writing the difference between Iyers and the Iyengars and all that. I was having a blast. Then, I came back fully immersed in the culture. So by then, kind of, I was like I'll just do this now. She made me prep a lot. Then I did it."
Konkona also revealed how winning her first National Award proved to be a turning point in her career.
"The word of the National Award came one morning while I was fast asleep. I remember my stepfather waking me up to say, 'You know you won the national award'. I said, 'Oh really? Wow'. And I went back to sleep because I was too young. I just wanted to sleep in the early morning and I woke up to literally to a house full of journalists. It was a turning point for me because I think what happened is that people got to know that, there is an actress also, Konkona, who's decent and so I started getting offers."
The challenging role in the English-language drama provided Konkona with an opportunity to showcase her acting skills.
Konkona's portrayal of Meenakshi Iyer, a Tamil Iyer Brahmin, earned her glowing praise from the audience as well as the National Award.
The film narrates the story of Meenakshi and Raja Chowdhury (Rahul Bose), who played a Bengali Muslim man, with the couple pretending to be married during communal riots in the country.
Their story unfolds against the backdrop of chaos, bringing out a human relationship that transcends the boundaries of religion.