New Delhi: Actor Rasika Dugal Tuesday said certain actors aren’t able to take a political stand because the stakes are very high in some cases, making it harder to speak out.
Speaking at the sixth edition of ThePrint’s Democracy Wall, Dugal was cheered by the audience when she talked about attending a protest the previous night.
When asked why certain actors aren’t able to take a political stand, Dugal said, “In some cases, the stakes are high for certain actors, which may make it difficult for people to speak out.” She, however, clarified that she would not like to comment or judge the ones not taking a stand.
Dugal added that some people like to speak through their work.
Taking about herself, the actor said she was lucky to have the luxury to speak as she liked.
In light of the recent violence on JNU campus, she said, “It is important not to give into the sense of gloom and doom,” and called for the need to engage in a productive way.
Democracy Wall is a free-speech campus initiative and its latest edition was held at Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication, Pune. Congress MLA (Sholapur) Praniti Shinde, artist Rahul Ram and ThePrint’s editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta were also part of the event.
On filmmaking and her ideal role
Dugal talked about the art of filmmaking and said, “It is a highly collaborative process and a deeply personal one at the same time. This makes collaboration very hard but also makes the process all the more beautiful.”
When asked whether she would be open to working in a film like Kabir Singh, Dugal said, “I would happily play a character whose politics are not in sync with mine. It would be very interesting to get into the headspace of a person you don’t understand.”
She explained that her perfect artistic experience would be one where the overall politics of the story aligns with her own politics.
Female characters in TV series
Speaking about her role as a sexually empowered woman in the Amazon Prime series Mirzapur, Dugal said the character of Bina Tripathi was a woman with sexual agency.
“When I go back to the series, I realised that our references have been sexualised for so long that we don’t have references to suggest otherwise,” she said.
Contrasting filmmaking with the process of shooting a television series, she explained, “TV series take longer to shoot. It gives me time to warm up into the character and grow into the role.”
She added that the luxury of time also leaves a lot of room for character building in the TV format. According to Dugal, this comes as an advantage because “the first victim of editing in films is the woman’s character.”