The Hindu : New Delhi News : In her mother's footsteps

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 15, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

In her mother's footsteps

BEHIND THE CAMERA: A different role for talented actress Konkana Sen. -- Photo: R. V. Moorthy

Konkana Sen Sharma has opted for a different role this time round. While that is usual with her, now she has decided to stay far away from the screen and behind the camera. Following her mother's footsteps, her first directorial debut was screened at the Kala Ghoda Festival in Mumbai on Monday.

"It's a 15-minute film called `Namkaran'. It's in Bengali. It's something I was asked to do. But I really enjoyed it and hope that I would be able to do some more soon," says Konkana, in Delhi to promote her new film, `Mixed Doubles'.

However, the talented actress who has almost become the face of the thoughtful "new" Indian cinema, is not going to make this switch permanent just as yet. Having received rave reviews for her role as a schizophrenic in `15 Park Avenue', she has many more films to go.

But unlike `15 Park Avenue', which was a very intense film, her new release `Mixed Doubles' has more of a `feel-good' feel to it.

About `15 Park Avenue', Konkana says, "it is one of my favourite films. It is very close to my heart because the character I play is modelled on someone we knew. It was a very personal film. `Mixed Doubles' gave me some space to breathe after that," she says.

Directed by Rajat Kapoor, the movie is a romantic comedy that focuses on the married shade of love. Not about young starry-eyed couples, it makes the adrenalin run high on the just-fallen-in-love feeling as it is about a couple that has been married for a while.

"I was very, very happy with the way the film turned out... much better than I expected. It is a straight, earnest film. It is a tightly paced film, a little romantic film about ordinary, everyday people," she says.

While she still stays away from the big banner larger-than-life Bollywood spectacle, she will be experimenting with various genres. "I like doing different kind of roles. I have a horror film, `Amavas', as well as a thriller `Deadline' coming up. I have done a comedy film with `Mixed Doubles' and `15 Park Avenue' this year," she says. -- Mandira Nayar

-- Mandira Nayar

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