Konkona Sen Sharma was recently honored for her work as Indu in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara with a prestigious National Award. After hearing about the award Konkona called and thanked Bhardwaj for helping her become Indu.
About the role she said, “I can’t tell you how tough speaking that dialectical Hindi was for me and how much Vishal helped me get over my inhibitions. My Hindi is okay. But that UP dialect in Omkara was murder and that too in sync sound. After I heard about my National Award I reminded Vishal of how much I struggled with my dialogues. Vishal remembered how terrified I’d get every time he changed a word in my dialogue. He had to finally remind me to stop constantly worrying about my accent because it was getting in the way of my performance.”
She has said before that what drew her to the role of Indu was how interesting and strong the character was and of course the chance to work with Bhardwaj. She said, “I’m appreciated in my performances because my characters are so well written. Even Indu in Omkara was so well-conceived.”
About winning an award she said, “We do not do films for awards. We do films because we like the character, the script and the director. Awards are like icing on the cake, they are a bonus.”
She was asked if she felt Omkara was a turning point and she answered, “Films that become successful turn into turning points. I’d like every film of mine to be a turning point. I thought I was good in Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Aaja Nachle. But the films didn’t work. Aaja Nachle was my most relaxed and fun film.” She was very good in both films and was appreciated by fans as well as critics.
Next up for Konkona is the film Dil Kabbadi which is directed by Anil Sharma Senior and co-stars Rahul Bose, Irrfan Khan and Soha Ali Khan. About this exciting cast and film she said, “To begin with Rahul was supposed to be opposite Soha and Irrfan opposite me. Then Rahul and Irrfan swapped roles. To be honest it’s inspired by one of Woody Allen’s comedies. It’s about two couples played by Rahul Bose and me, and Irrfan and Soha and their ups and downs. All done tongue-in-cheek. I loved doing it. I like doing roles that explore contemporary relationships.”
