Rasika Dugal 'was advised not to do small roles initially'

When you are just trying to find your ground in the film industry, you take up any and every role that comes your way, said Rasika Dugal, who remembers being advised not to play smaller parts in her early years.

The Jamshedpur-born actor, who made her feature film debut with 2007’s ‘Anwar’, is one of the most recognisable faces in the streaming space today thanks to web series such as ‘Mirzapur’, ‘Delhi Crime’ and ‘Out of Love’.

Dugal, a postgraduate from Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), said that it took her time, but she charted her own path.

“When I came to Bombay, I wouldn’t say I had one particular kind of role in mind because you can’t come up with a set idea, especially because you are just starting out. I pretty much did whatever came my way. At that time, I was advised not to do small roles, do only big parts. But I said, ‘Listen, I don’t know how else to introduce myself to people, except through my work. So, if I’m getting smaller parts at the beginning of my career, I’ll take them. Thanks for the advice, but I’ll make this my own journey. I’ll play it my own way’. So that’s what I did. I got bigger parts after that. It took some time, but it happened,” she told PTI.

Dugal, also known for films such as ‘Manto’, ‘Hamid’, ‘Tu Hai Mera Sunday’ and ‘Lootcase’, credited OTT platforms for ‘transforming’ her career.

“I had an opportunity to do so many kinds of roles. In 2018, I had four releases, which was the beginning of a good phase in my career. There was ‘Manto’ (in which she played Safia Manto) and shortly after that, there was Beena Tripathi in ‘Mirzapur’, which was completely different from that. Then, there was Neeti Singh, who is a cop, in ‘Delhi Crime’,” she added.

While she is all for the ‘captive sort of viewing’ experience one gets in a cinema hall, the 39-year-old said streamers offer convenient access to the audience.