Konkona Sen Sharma on 'Dolly Kitty...': Felt liberated to not play perfect woman

Actor Konkona Sen Sharma was "thrilled" when Alankrita Shrivastava's "Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare" came her way as film gave her "rare" opportunity to play a flawed woman.

film, also featuring Bhumi Pednekar, chronicles lives of two cousins in Greater ida who, through ir rise, fall, missteps and unlearning, enable each or to find freedom.

As Dolly - a married, working and ambitious woman navigating messy part of liberation - Sharma felt a rarity in way character was written by Shrivastava, with whom she also worked on 2018's "Lipstick Under My Burkha".

In an interview with PTI, actor said she has never played a woman who is "quite as b*** as Dolly".

"I felt liberated from having to always play that perfect, strong woman who never makes any wrong decision. It was liberating to play a woman who is so ambiguous and sometimes taking some decisions, which are ambiguous as well." In her career of more than 20 years, Sharma has played several celebrated characters, from "P 3", "Life in a Metro", "Wake Up! Sid", "Omkara", to "Luck By Chance".

actor said while it would be a stretch to say re is a struggle to get parts like Dolly, she wished she h more diverse characters to choose from.

"re's struggle as such, but it's an ackwledgement of such a juicy part. Of course, it would be amazing if one h a plethora of such roles to choose from, but unfortunately, that's t case and I'm t surprised.

"I've been acting for more than 20 years so I kw what it is. What I'm happy about is that this has happened!" For 40-year-old actor, several layers to Dolly, a woman grappling with an uninterested husband, sexuality of her child, and differences with her sister, mirrored complexity of one's life, which seldom finds a "truthful" portrayal on-screen.

Sharma said she often finds that even in "progressive scripts", makers make a "concession" by t choosing to go all out to showcase a woman's ncy.

"You're used to that. Rarely you feel re's something which is telling it as it is. It isn't making any apologies, doing away with niceties. I loved that attitude, that 'hey we are all ults, this is how it is.' "It doesn't underestimate viewer at all. I love Alankrita's world, way she inhabits and represents women..." Produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor, film was earlier eyeing a atrical release before coronavirus pandemic forced atres to shut shop. film eventually landed on streaming platform Netflix.

fact that "Dolly Kitty..." resonated with her personal idea of female liberation me film special for Sharma, she said.

"I feel liberated as a woman, in way I live my life. However, it's t always reflected in world around me. So I feel privileged but also isolated. "That's why one is so pleased to have come across where people like Ekta have supported film, Alankrita is writing films like se." Sharma empowerment is different for every woman but film talks about idea and "Hopefully that will start a conversation".

"Dolly Kitty..." also stars Vikrant Massey, Amol Parashar and Aamir Bashir. 

(Photo: PTI)