Not out-of-the-boxoffice

In an industry where most actresses bow down to the demands of the box office, where starlets shed their clothes to become stars and where top heroines drape sarees and go de-glam to prove they are 'actresses' enough, Konkona Sen Sharma is a dignified exception. The talented actress, known for her solid performances in movies like Mr and Mrs Iyer, Amu, Page 3, Omkara, Life in a Metro, Luck by Chance, amongst others, has truly gained success in Bollywood on her own terms.

Her journey from critically appreciated films to out and out commercial movies has been as seamless and natural as the co-existence of National Awards and Filmfare Awards on her shelf. It's not only an unconventional transition from Bengali films to Bollywood sans any compromises, but also a fluid sailing across genres, without any dent to her image as a powerful actress – the latest proof of her disregard for categorisation being her film Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge - an Ashwini Dhir directed comedy with Ajay Devgn and Paresh Rawal.

Isn't it a triumph of sorts for the actress that the audience and Bollywood seem to have accepted every move of her career, without any complaints? “I never really went around looking for acceptance,” Konkona tells us. Since she never wanted to become an actress and there were no great ambitions at stake, Konkana had nothing to lose. “I was initially into theatre and did a few films too, but when I moved from Kolkata to Mumbai, theatre fell on the backburner for a while and I started doing films. I only did films which I found interesting. I wasn't really thinking of whether I'd be accepted or not. Also, it's not like I made a conscious transition from off beat cinema to the mainstream. I started with two Bengali films, which were commercial. Then I did Mr and Mrs Iyer, which was in English and therefore off-beat. People got their first impressions of me from there. So I was doing different kind of films back then, too,” she says.
Was Atithi also just another interesting project at hand or a calculated decision to make definite inroads into commercial, masala films? “Well, my image exists regardless of me. I know people have certain notions of who I am, but that doesn't stop me from trying out anything I find new and interesting. When I read the script of Atithi..., I found it very funny. And it has been a very rewarding experience, people have appreciated me,” Konkona reasons.
Clearly, Konkona doesn't believe in getting slotted. A look into her forthcoming releases will give you a taste of her taste for variety. There's Sunglass, a comedy by Rituparno Ghosh starring Madhavan and Jaya Bacchan, Right Yaa Wrong with Sunny Deol and Irfan Khan, Mirch by Vinay Shukla and Iti Mrinalini directed by her mother Aparna Sen.

Interestingly, the mother-daughter duo will also be seen together on screen for the first time in the film. “Iti Mrinalini is about the life of an actress. While my mother plays the older actress, I get to play her younger self in the movie. Since it's set in the 70's and I'm playing an actress in her 20s-30s, in a sense, I'm getting to play my mother's youth. So it's really close to my heart,” Konkona says.

Does working with a women director – she's worked with Aparna Sen, Zoya Akhtar (Luck by Chance) and Shonali Bose (Amu) earlier - feel any different? “I don't really like to classify directors as men or women. It finally just depends on the sensitivity, the mental make-up, the sensibilities of an individual. Male directors can make equally sensitive films. I don't think being a woman director adds anything extra or special to the job,” she believes.

Does she ever plan to go behind the camera? “I have no such plans as of now. I'm not interested in directing at this stage,” Konkana says. There's still a lot more she has to offer as an actress, we're sure.