The sunshine Sen
ANUJ KUMAR
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Despite"Page 3" Konkona Sen is not ready to see herself as an alternative to the usual Bollywood actress.
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NOW ON PAGE1 For Konkona Sen, commercial success doesn't matter. Photo: R.V. Moorthy.
Her earnestness to talk has a magnetic appeal. But her answers are usually laced with "I don't know" putting the gravity that one associates with Konkona Sen under cloud. That's momentary. What follows the sunshine smile brushes up Indian cinema's definition of an actress. She unequivocally says Indian cinema is not just Bollywood. "There is strong regional cinema in this country which is known internationally. The sooner we realise this the better." Saying this after "Page 3", which has opened fresh avenues for her sounds like hara-kiri? The film has not only recently won the national award for the best film but is a box office success as well. " `Page 3' was a success by chance. It could have gone wrong in many ways." How? "I don't know. Commercial success or failure of the film doesn't matter to me... though my producers won't like this statement," she grins.
She has just finished Planman Motion Pictures' "Dosor", her mother Aparna Sen's "15 Park Avenue" and Rajit Kapoor's "Mixed Doubles" - responsible for her new fringe hair cut. "Park Avenue is something very close to my heart. Here I am playing the schizophrenic sister of Shabana Azmi. It was very difficult to relate with the character because nobody knows how she will react the next minute. One moment she is thinking, scratching her chin, in the next she starts crying. I met some people and doctors to understand the psyche of such people." Shot in Bhutan, the film also stars Rahul Bose.
Directed by Rituparno Ghosh and shot in black and white "Dosor" deals with extramarital affairs. "I have earlier worked with him in `Titli', but that was more like a family picnic. Here I am playing a much more mature character. Rituda is very different from my mother. Mother wants every thing ready before the shooting. There would be workshops where every character's evolution will be discussed. Rituda is also organised but he gives much more opportunity to grow on the sets." As for working in the black and white format, Konkona says it doesn't make much difference for the actors. "The only advantage was we were not too much concerned about our make-up."
After "Mr and Mrs Iyer" she together with Rahul Bose emerged as an alternative to the singing-dancing stars of Bollywood. However, with "Silsiilay" Rahul has compromised his position. Konkona says she has not. "I am just not comfortable lip syncing for songs. I am okay with `Page 3' kinds of situation where the songs are in the background." And dancing around the trees, say in a Karan Johar film? "Script will decide... but no dancing whether around trees or cars." A mental block? "I don't know... I don't think dancing is part of acting."
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