Divya Dutta is one such actor who has achieved balance between commercial and art cinema. In her career of 30 years, Divya has played a wide variety of roles in different genres. Her film 'Sharmajee Ki Beti', directed by debutant Tahira Kashyap, premiered today, June 28, on Amazon Prime Video. Divya, 46, plays a woman named Kiran Sharma who comes from Patiala to Mumbai. She struggles hard to adjust to the lifestyle of the city. Her husband who is non-existent in their marriage, doesn't give the attention she needs. It leads to question her identity. Divya, who herself came from a small city to Mumbai, relates to her character to a certain extent.
In an interview with Outlook India, Divya Dutta shares her working experience with Tahira Kashyap, her character, the portrayals of women in Indian cinema and a lot more. Excerpts from the interview:
Tell us about your working experience with Tahira Kashyap?
She is very confident and very clear in her vision and that's the biggest plus point that an actor can have to know that your director knows exactly what they want you to do. It's the easiest thing to hold her finger and walk through very beautifully. She used to pull my legs. I was really an excited child with her on set. There was so much fun and hard work and that's a lethal combo. There is so much pressure on set but she never let you feel that. I just kind of relate to her spirit of looking at things, and the craziness she has portrayed in my character. I absolutely adored it because I have seen a lot of it in myself as well. So, I thoroughly enjoyed being directed by her.
You came from a small town to the city and so as your character. Was playing the role cathartic for you?
As actors, we sometimes don't realise the difference between the reel and real life. We get married so many times on set. So, when the time comes for real romance, you don't know whether you are acting or it's real. It's the same with other emotions also.
Talking about my character, the vulnerability and being lost in the city have been very familiar to all of us. There are certain feelings which you don't even realise when you are enacting. Something else also comes out. So, yes, in many ways it's cathartic and you don't realise that it's within you. That's why playing a character is a beautiful journey in itself. You don't know what's coming your way. Kiran was a very relatable character for me.
The way she used to call her mother is exactly the same I used to call my mother.
Do you feel that due to the advent of OTT, the portrayals of women characters have changed and change is coming in the narrative now?
Earlier, very stereotypical images were given to women. You are either mother, sister or mother-in-law or may be the vamp with an item song. Women were given those kind of roles and filmmakers couldn't look beyond that.
I remember when I came to the industry, I was doing multi-starrers, commercial and art cinema and they didn't know where to place me. In men, it's ok that he is an actor, he can do both. But in females, it wasn't as much especially when I came in. When a female actress starts to do both- commercial and art cinema, they don't know where to place her.
With the onset of OTT coming in, especially during covid when everyone was sitting at home, watching good content, they wanted to see more layers in every character. So, a heroine doesn't necessarily need to be a goody two shoes or need to have songs where she is dancing. Some characters have desires and some have grey shades. The beautiful marriage of all these layers has made the audience greedy for such content and now they don't want to see that one typical character at all.
