You can’t help getting intrigued by the musical lilt to the name Konkana. Does it mean anything? It’s the name of a river in Hindu mythology and also figures in a Tagore poem. Music seems to flow in the personalities of the two Sen women. The mother-daughter/director-actor jodi is finely-tuned to each other. The two are also completely down to earth and have a disarming lack of attitude. "I find attitudes so boring," smiles Aparna. Such is the lack of pretension that when Aparna compliments Konkana on her perfect South Indian accent in Mr and Mrs Iyer, the daughter is frank enough to say she did go wrong in some scenes.
Right now, however, it’s the Mumbai police that seems to be doing all the wrong to Aparna. The Mumbai police commissioner made her delete scenes from her film fearing they’d create law and order problems. "I just don’t understand. You can face all kinds of communal problems in reality but when you show a hypothetical situation in a film you want to cut it out. That too after the censors have passed it."
Konkana shares much of her mother’s zeal and independence. The bindaas Delhi girl lives on her own in a barsati whizzing off to Mumbai and Calcutta for work. She may look like a college kid but transformed effortlessly into a young mother on celluloid. Konkana is blasé about the praise being heaped on her. But Aparna genuinely considers her daughter a better and more instinctive actress than herself. "Konkana’s complete naturalness is like fertile ground wherein a director can sow any character." Sad then that Konkana should say she’s not enthused about the offers she’s getting. "I’ll keep my career options open," she says. Unless, of course, she gets a chance to work with the likes of Ram Gopal Varma.
