Very often when we talk about war, conflict or terrorism, we talk about it very politically. We forget that there are people involved.
— Rasika Dugal
The thing about comedy is that you don't have to play funny.
I like people who are particular about what they want.
It is nice to have a lot of people watch your work but I really have thought of it as not the goal of my career but a bonus in my career.
Our family get-togethers are about the stories such as my uncle who walked across the Indo-Burma border, or a woman who gave birth in a ship carrying refugees etc.
Nothing is more important to me than the work itself. If I feel I am getting swayed too much, I take a step back… My focus is also on the performance.
In acting, I’ve found my soulmate.
A good working relationship between an actor and the director is very important. It takes a while to build a comfort zone because filmmaking is a long process so it is important to connect with people you work with.
I’ve been fortunate with the kind of work I’ve done, in terms of quality. But a lot of work didn’t get the kind of release and attention that it deserved. And, I feel little let down by our distribution system.
Over-articulation kills the character because it becomes one thing and that is not how it happens in life and it is not beautiful to watch on screen either.
Sometimes you read the script and you feel that this is a challenging role but at times you feel that this one was written for me.
I just got an opportunity to do that with a film called 'Lootcase', and it’s an opportunity that I am really grateful for.
Naseer Sir taught me while I was a student at the Film and Television Institute of India. Anything I know about acting is thanks to him.
I think we’re still struggling to find a way of depicting women that doesn’t objectify them.
If the story is insensitive to a person and is not nuanced enough, that’s a story I don’t want to be a part of. Otherwise there is no other character that I don’t want to play.
As a society, we need to create an environment that encourages women to make the choices that are available to them and encourages them to speak their mind.
I think we still have a long way to go in understanding that feminist and femininity are not opposites.
I couldn't be happier with my career.
I want to do roles that are important for the story and not there for ornamental value or to just aid another character in the film which is often a 'friend's role' in mainstream films.
With digital space, the content has become accessible for the audience. So, they feel more connected to you as you are more accessible to them. The kind of adulation actors get today is very different from the kind of adulation you had for a star which came from aspiration rather than relatability.
It is very difficult to make something like slice-of-life interesting. I don’t think many people have done the slice-of-life dramas as good as TVF has done it.
My family moved from Rangoon to Rawalpindi during World War II. My father was born in Lahore in 1946. Those were difficult times.
My general idea about my work is that it’s more about the work than the things that come with it. I am constantly striving to improve on that and find new things to do there... That journey itself is so interesting is because there’s so much to do that there’s no room for doubt there.
But having said that, becoming an actor was the best decision I ever made. With its ups and downs and its craziness, nothing makes me happier in life.
Of course, I’m open to all kinds of genres. In my head, there are no demarcations.
I feel it's important to familiarize yourself with the world that the character inhabits.
You can’t understand a character intellectually, you have to become one with its emotional core.
The way you get to explore a city when you are on shoot is so different from when you are there as a tourist.
But honestly, much of the work that I have done has had some impact on me. It’s something that I have realised only later. I also find it amusing that the memories of actors are so consciously constructed around what happened to that piece of work, in terms of audience reception or box-office results.
In the digital space, writers and directors get time to build and establish a character.
I don’t have much foresight, and I think that’s an asset for an actor.
In fact, it is more interesting to play someone whose politics is not in sync with my own politics because then I have to understand a different kind of mind and that becomes more interesting as an actor.
It was been an absolute joy being in 'The Vagina Monologues' for so many years. I think the play is truly special.
I really enjoy watching animation films and I have always been curious about how such well-established actors in Hollywood lend their voices to animation films.
I have been offered roles in mainstream films which have not been interesting to me. They have been too insignificant.
I like to watch actors while they are acting, how they hold their attention when so many people around are there to distract them. It’s difficult.
So, I do not work towards fame but if it happens to me, I won’t say no.
I like a sensitive script, interesting and respectful directors and co-actors, producers who understand the creative needs of a project. A happy unit in which everyone collaborates to try and make something compelling.
Talking about your work all the time and to open up, you have to do all that. I have begun to find my fun in that as well.
I am a serial class taker. I take classes for anything and everything!
The biggest quality of good actors is that they know how to respect their co-actors, whether they are as big a name as them or not.
The best option that you can have as an actor is pure instinct and you should be able to protect your instinct. Information can either cloud your instinct or aid it.
As an actor, it is my job to prepare for the role I am playing.
Memories come out only when you spend time with a person.
Salaam Bombay' and 'Monsoon Wedding' are the two Mira Nair films I go back to.
Whenever I work on a role, I always allow it to subconsciously take me to a place that is magical and unexpected, rather than consciously driving it to a place.
When you disagree with somebody else, they often tend to get very defensive. But that doesn’t stop me from doing the kind of work that I want to do.
‘Slice of life’ is not a genre I had experimented with much, and it’s quite difficult.
No matter what situation you are in, if you need help, you should be able to ask for it.
Film is my favourite without a doubt. I am a film romantic and I love the grandeur of cinema. Dark theatres and big screens are my first love.
