Never thought of becoming an actor or a director: Konkona Sensharma

In a career spanning over two decades, Konkona Sensharma has enthraled the audience with her wide variety of acting roles. She has also impressed moviegoers with her directorial stints in ‘A Death in the Gunj’ and a segment of ‘Lust Stories 2’. However, she never thought of becoming an actor or later, a director in her life. She went with the flow and eventually landed in filmmaking.

“I’m primarily an actor. I had no plans to direct. I had no plans to be an actor. I’m reluctant. I used to be. I’m an accidental actor,” she told ANI.

She continued, “Because I didn’t want to be an actor. I later became. I did good work. People appreciated my work. I found that I’m spending so much time in Bombay (Mumbai). I might as well buy a house or rent an apartment and at least see how it goes. I always have this thing. I’m very non-committal by nature. I like to see, ‘Let’s see how it’s going. And then we’ll decide’. I can never plan. I don’t know what I am doing next weekend.”

‘A Death in the Gunj’ is a 2016 drama film written and directed by Konkona Sensharma.

Recalling her working experience in the film and all the tips she got from her mother, veteran film director and screenwriter Aparna Sen, the actor shared, “I used to call her (Aparna Sen) every day with a list of questions. Some of it was also researched to be fair because it was set in McCluskieganj in 1979 and there was not a lot of material available on McCluskieganj.”

“We did get into some research, but a lot of it was based on talking to my parents and talking to their friends. ‘Did you have running hot water? Who were the Anglo-Indians who lived there? Where did you guys go?’ Many questions were asked about that world and what’s so interesting when you rely on memory. Memory is a very tricky thing because people remember it differently. So, my dad would be like, ‘No’, but this was something over there and my mom would be like, ‘Oh! I thought it was something’, so it’s very nice. It was lovely because it’s almost magical and it’s part of fiction.”

Though Konkona was initially reluctant to foray into direction, she said that being on the sets was helpful for her.