What’s Konkona Sensharma doing in a Karan Johar production?

Yeah, I was actually quite surprised when I got the call from Dharma Productions. But then you have to remember that Wake Up Sid is not directed by Karan Johar. What I think is really nice is that big banners like Yash Raj Films, UTV and Dharma Productions are at least trying in their small way to do films which are not 100 per cent mainstream formula films. Wake Up Sid is directed by Ayan (Mukerji) and while I wouldn’t say that he has made an independent film or arthouse cinema or anything like that, it’s not a typical masala film. It doesn’t have any lip-synced songs to begin with. It is not a conventional romance. I would have been really surprised if I got a call from Dharma to do a typically Dharma film.

That your director Ayan is so young (he is 24), what are the advantages and disadvantages?

I don’t think age has anything to do with creativity. I know people who are very young but they do not have a fresh perspective and want to just stick to the old formula. And there are people who are much older and who have made films before and who are constantly on the lookout for something different and refreshing. When I met Ayan, I knew he was very young but I also knew that he had written the film himself. And if you are able to write a script well, then that helps the actors to have faith in you. It’s not like you have taken someone else’s script and thought, achha I want to make a film. Also, I knew him a little bit and had interacted with him... so I was confident that he would be able to make a decent film.

You play a Bengali girl, but how much Bengaliness is there in the character?

Not much. She sure is Bengali. Her name is Ayesha Banerjee. But there’s no real chance for her to speak in Bengali. There’s one phone conversation with her mother, where she speaks a couple of lines in Bengali. But most of her interactions are with Ranbir Kapoor’s character, Sid. That’s mostly in Hindi and a little bit in English.

But what do you think of this idea of a Calcutta girl going and “waking up” a Mumbai boy?

It’s definitely unusual (laughs). That’s more to do with the characters, I guess. I don’t think either Sid or Ayesha ever expected to fall in love with each other. You know, how we always have preconceived notions about the kind of person we would like to be with. And they are such opposites that they didn’t expect to be around each other. Ayesha does come from Calcutta and she comes to Mumbai to lead an independent life. Along the way she happens to meet Sid and Sid is going through his own journey. He is a little lost and he is in a bit of a crisis. Now she has a very positive influence on his life. That’s also something they realise much later in the film.

How was Ranbir to work with?

He was lovely to work with. He is extremely talented. He has a natural inherent ease in front of the camera... very charming, very confident, very comfortable with his body language in front of the camera. There are actors who sometimes come across as a bit awkward. There’s none of that with Ranbir. He is a consummate actor, even though he is very young. And he is also very skilled about the technicalities of filmmaking. He has been an assistant director and that does help him as an actor to a certain extent. Ranbir is also extremely polite and well brought up and chivalrous and generally a delight to work with.

Was Karan Johar involved with the production at all?

He wasn’t involved in that sense. I don’t think he even came to the shoot. At least not when I was there. But he must have been involved.

Ayan says that Wake Up Sid, at the end of the day, is very Karan Johar in its sensibility...

It’s hard for me to say. I don’t exactly know what Karan Johar sensibility is (laughs). I know Karan at a personal level and I would say, yes, this should be his sensibility. Otherwise, why would he even agree to produce the film. Maybe from his own choice of films as a director that doesn’t come through as much.

Your last mainstream movie, Luck By Chance, was loved by the critics but didn’t find an audience. And it did have stars...

What stars? You have to have an Akshay Kumar or a Shah Rukh Khan for it to really sell on the name of stars. You can’t have Konkona Sensharma starring to sell the film. Besides, when in the history of cinema in our country, have we had something which is popular and yet critically acclaimed? Whether it’s art, literature or cinema, there has never been a positive co-relation between what is popular and what is artistic. Very few films around the world make that crossover. Popular films are usually always low on artistic merit. So it is kind of a given. A few films here and there, like Lage Raho Munnabhai, have been able to cut across the gap.

So, what is it that you are looking for now, as an actress?

I don’t know, honestly. Whatever that’s offered to me, I try and choose the best from that. The film I can relate with the most, the script I can connect with, the screenplay which is the least boring! I should be able to strike a rapport with the director. I don’t have a preconceived notion of what I want to do. And I have to confess most of what I am offered is quite shit. Usually very mediocre, sometimes it will be worse.

Is that why you keep going back to your mother (Aparna Sen) to write something really good for you?

I think the best work I have done till now is with my mother. Mr & Mrs Iyer, 15 Park Avenue and now Iti Mrinalini. And what’s nice about the latter is that I have never done a Bengali film with her before this one. Also, I have always wanted to do a period film. Not period period, but something which people still remember. I am playing an actress of the 70s in the film, which is very exciting for me.

In Titli, there’s a line where you say that your mother is so beautiful and you are so ugly and wonder how the next generation is going to be. And now, you are playing the younger version of your mother...

I think it’s wonderful, isn’t it? I have a lot of respect and admiration for my mother, as well. So whether as an actor or a filmmaker or a scriptwriter, I have a tremendous amount of faith and trust in her. I think it’s wonderful that we are being able to collaborate in so many different ways. We have been co-actors and actor-and-director and now, we are playing the same character. That would be so much fun. I never imagined I would get this kind of opportunity.

So, are you watching your mother’s films over and over again?

I haven’t yet. I wouldn’t watch her films again and again for anything other than maybe the style. For which my mother’s helping me out. There’s a certain kind of acting almost. So when she acts in a film within the film, then she has that purono diner heroine feel. I can’t wait to get started, which will be in October.