Center Stage with Rasika Dugal

You cannot continue to be a good actor if you don’t constantly improve on yourself. rasika

1. When did you know that you wanted to become an actress?

It was never on the plan! I think the ability to follow a whim, a constant need to experiment, and a general inability to strategize got me there.

I was working as a research assistant after a post-graduate degree in social communication media which was interesting at the time but I didn’t see myself doing that for many years. At the office one morning, I was browsing through the newspaper and found that FTII was restarting their acting course. I had enjoyed doing theatre in college (in LSR), had thoroughly enjoyed the paper in film studies at my post-graduate course, and was mesmerized by the idea of being in a film school especially one with a history like FTII.

So, I applied and was one of 20 students to be selected. Even at the time of joining the institute, I didn’t look at this as a serious career decision. I was just going with the flow. But six months into the course at FTII, I knew that I hadn’t felt as connected to something as I did to acting work and the process of filmmaking. I knew then that I will be doing this for a very long time.

2. How supportive was your family with the decision?

I didn’t know where I was going with this journey of experimentation. Neither did they. If I had turned up home one day and said ‘  मुझे actor बनना है ‘ I don’t how they would have responded to it.  But things didn’t pan out like that.it was more like ‘I want to try out this fun course at FTII  ‘. I guess neither of us took me seriously.

I realized I wanted to pursue this line of work seriously only once I was at FTII. I think they understood that only once I was working in Bombay. Since then, they have always celebrated my small victories and been there for me through the not-so-great times.

3. What are the things you are most grateful about?

For the kind of stories, I have had an opportunity to be a part of and the people I have had an opportunity to collaborate with. I have had the opportunity to work with some of the finest actors our country has and with some of the most sensitive and skilled directors. What more can an actor ask for!

I am also really grateful for the support system I have – Friends and family who are there for me when I need them. And with a sense of humour which helps me not take myself too seriously.

4. You have worked on numerous projects. What was your breakthrough moment?

I guess there wasn’t one breakthrough moment but different kinds of such moments.

My breakthrough moment as a performer was with a film called Qissa. I got an opportunity to work with talented, committed, and caring co-actors like Irrfan, Tisca, and Tilotama. And with a sensitive director like Anup Singh who could create an environment for a performer to thrive in and explore possibilities that you never thought existed within you.

With Manto, I got pulled out of the slump I was in because of the many rejections I had had in the preceding years. I hadn’t had work for a while and Manto kind of put me back on the map.

With Mirzapur, I had the opportunity to play a part that was dramatically different from me and from the parts I had done before. It helped me showcase my range as an actor and prompted creators to imagine me differently. It also allowed me to reach a much wider audience and to experience the thrills of being part of something that has a huge following.

These were all breakthrough moments for me in different ways.

5. What was the hardest phase in your life as an actress and how did you overcome it?

The time between Qissa and Manto was probably the hardest. I had offers to work with five filmmakers on very interesting stories but none of them eventually worked out because the producers said ‘ she is not well known enough’. I was at a  loss because I  didn’t know what I could do to change this around for myself. I felt someone would have to take a chance on me to change this. And Nandita did with Manto. She fought very hard to keep me on the film and I will always be grateful for that.

6. Which one of your roles was the most challenging for you?

Beena Tripathi in Mirzapur. Beena is everything I am not. And for this reason, it’s always so much fun revisiting her. She is a masterclass in manipulation, nobody will know what’s happening in her head, she wears her sexuality on her sleeve and unapologetically so. Beena made me access a side of myself that I possibly don’t allow myself to be in my real life. I lived vicariously through Beena!

7. One of your roles you connected with the most on a personal level?

Neeti Singh in Delhi crime and Safia Manto in Manto.

Neetis’s idealism and her spirit reminded me a little of myself in my college days. It was like reliving a phase in my own life. And it was beautiful to do that.

Safia was a lot like the women I grew up with. Gentle and soft on the exterior but fierce within. Women who were always there for people around them. Women who responded to life with so much sensitivity, grace, and dignity.

8. What has motivated you to always keep on improving over the years?

The love for the work. You cannot continue to be a good actor if you don’t constantly improve on yourself. Reinventing yourself, in my opinion, is a necessity in this line of work. So improving myself is the motivation! Otherwise, the work gets dull.

9. Tell us about your upcoming projects.

This year, I look forward to reprising some of the characters I have lived with for two seasons and also look forward to sinking my teeth into some new ones. So it looks like this year is going to be an interesting mix. But who knows! If there is anything I know for sure about this line of work it is that it never ends up being the way it looked like it was going to be in the beginning of the year.

Credits(cover image):
Wearing: Aroka, ALAMELU, Studio Metallurgy and CAI
Photographer: Meetesh Taneja
Styled by: Akshita Singh
Assisted by: Nishtha Parwani
Hair and Make up: Nidhi Agarwal 
Artist PR: Tree-Shul Media Solutions

Artist PR: Tree-Shul Media Solutions

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