 Oh, there you are. It is now. Hello. OK, yeah. Hi, nice to see you guys. Nice to see you too. Thank you so much for coming on. We love your work so much. We were just talking. The first thing we ever saw you in was Mesa Purr. And we absolutely fell in love with you in Mesa Purr. And I apologize for I think I'm still saying that show incorrectly. So I apologize. But I hope you're doing well. We know COVID is going through a second wave there in India. So I hope you and everyone you love are well right now. Everybody OK? So far, all is well. But you never know. Things are so bad that it could change tomorrow. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very, very bad. Much more than any of us can imagine. Yeah, we pay very close attention to it. So we have a lot of stupid babies that are constantly. And I don't know if you knew our people who watch the channel and follow the channel. We affectionately have called them stupid babies for the past two years. Yeah. I followed your channel, I mean, before this interview, I'm sorry. But then I realized that you know a lot of people I know. So I should have gotten on to it earlier. But right before the stupid kids is great. Yeah, we've got to talk to so many people, especially from Mizoper, because we absolutely adored that series. We are very much looking forward to season three. So what can you tell us about season three? I have no idea, in fact, I was hoping. You would tell me something. You've been interviewing so much. I was hoping you had some information on that one. I have no idea. I'm very curious. I want to know myself. I met my producer at a party in February and I said, am I getting killed? Just take me there. And he was very professional and had a very blank face. I couldn't tell anything. Yeah, I heard a funny story about the Game of Thrones cast as the show kept going on. They would call each other up after they've read the script and say, I'm still alive. You're still alive. In fact, when we were shooting for season two, I came back home one day and I said, and we had a long shift. We shot for one and a half shifts for the scene in which I killed Baoji. And I killed my father in law. And I came back home and my husband said, what happened? You've been gone for so many hours. I said, we had one and a half shifts and we were shooting this death scene where he died. And my husband was like, thanks. Thanks for ruining it. Oh, man, I remember watching that scene and we were rooting for you so, so much for that scene to come to fruition because the character of your father in law was just so evil. And so we were really rooting for you to kill him. I actually wished it was even more brutal. Do you wish it was even more brutal? Baoji, did you like how I would get him out? I felt she got her revenge. Oh, yeah, she did. I just wanted to chop off his manhood or something. But when we were filming for it, I couldn't care less because it was, we'd been shooting for, when we started shooting the scene, we had already been shooting for over 13 hours. And yes, and we had to finish that scene because we didn't have the location after that. So we had to stretch ourselves. And I was dying to sleep. And everybody around me was dying to sleep. And I'm sorry, I just, I wanted to make sure I'm hearing this right. So you had already done a 13 hour day at that point. Yes. And then you begin, not like do other shots. You're beginning that scene after the 13 hour day. Yes. So was it like an hour? How long was the shooting? Yeah, it was a day of cases. I'm sorry. How long was the overall shoot day? That went into one and a half shifts. So that was about 12 plus six hours or 12 plus four hours. Yeah, because that scene looks like you had several setups. That wasn't just a one setup shot. That was multiple setups. Oh my God, we were all wilting. And I remember I'm standing in front of Bowji and I'm trying my best to feel everything I'm supposed to feel. And I hear these two people in the background saying, hey, what's for dinner? Is it biryani or egg fried rice? I was like, great guys. Well, aside, that's a great segue into a question. I'd like you, how are you managing your schedule? Because you've got like multiple TV shows that are doing very well at the same time. Plus film projects, among other things we probably don't know about. Everything managing OK? Or you feel overworked? Or does everything manage well right now? I actually have had a lot of breaks because of the COVID situation. And I mean, for seven months last year, none of us could shoot. So when finally we could, I shot for Out of Love season 2, which is releasing day after actually. And that was in the hills. So I was relieved to be out, relieved to be shooting again, and relieved to be shooting in the hills. But had that not happened, then I would have had a very, very packed schedule. And then I might have been overworked. But I wasn't because we weren't shooting most of last year. But before that, yes, I shot Mirzapur season 2 and Out of Love season 1 simultaneously, which was a very, very tough schedule. And I shot Suitable Boy right after I started filming for it six days after I finished shooting for Out of Love season 1. And I started Delhi crime about two weeks after I finished filming for Suitable Boy. And out of that one week, I was scuba diving in the Maldives. So that was pretty packed. But that was fairly, that was still new in my life at that time. So I was willing to take that on. And I was actually very excited and feeling sort of important about juggling dates and taking night flights and landing somewhere saying, oh, you know, I was shooting all day. So I was kind of enjoying the importance of, had it gone on longer? Yes, I would have been exhausted. But then I was sort of enjoying this new business in my life. Yeah, dang. That's working is extremely fun. And you do it so, so well. The fact that you were done already on a 13 hour day by the start of that scene, you hit it very, very well. It was absolutely perfect. Can you tell me a little bit? I think I have to give it to Kulbushan Kharbanda, who was my co-actor in the scene. Because he's been acting for longer than I remember. And he was just so on the ball and so committed to every moment in that scene that whenever I was slacking, I would look at him and say, I would be like, I have no excuse to slack. This guy is on top of his game after all these years. So yeah. Everybody in that series is so good. The writing and the acting in that is absolutely phenomenal, one of the best series we've ever seen. Can you tell us a little bit about how you created that character? Like what would be some of the inspirations for her? So Beena was exciting to me because she's everything that I'm not. I often say that I live vicariously through her. Because she's all those things that I have sort of admired in women I have seen in my life, but not been that ever. So for example, when I first read her on paper, I felt that she's the kind of person who, when she walks into a room, people would turn and look at her for some reason. There's something magnetic about her. It's not like she's doing something which is outlandish or wearing something which is outlandish. There's just a magnetic quality. And she has a body language which is very, very sensual. There's something very sensual about it. I'm not like that in life at all. I'm quite a Mr. Cellophane. I'm happy to blend into a background. I have shy body language and all of those things. So I was excited to take her on for that reason. And the first image that came to my mind was this girl I had met many years ago who's a singer. And she's from a very small town in the north of India. And she had come to Bombay for a performance. And I had met her at a dinner party. And when I looked at her, she just seemed like somebody who was like a fairly regular person who I might not have looked at a second time. But the moment she began singing, her body transformed. There was a sensual quality to the way she sang. There was something that happened in her body. And I was so stunned. I remember I was eating something. I just stopped and stared at her. Because I had just seen this person transform in front of me. So her image was one that I would keep at the back of my mind while I was being Bina. So that was one physical image that came to mind. Otherwise, I think watched women who carry their sexuality or who wear their sexuality on their sleeve very carefully in almost an envious way because I've never been that. And it's often something that is not very applauded in Indian society, especially for women. And whenever I've seen that in women and their comfort around it, I've always had huge admiration for that. So I think those are subconscious images that have always remained. And on days where you feel they sort of just, when you're being the part, they sort of just come to mind. And you're amazed by how many things you're carrying within yourself anyway. Yeah. So I was wondering the sensuality that you've denoted that came from her character. Is that something that was given to you on the scripted page? Was it something you came up with? Was it collaborative with the writer and director? How did that come about? It was there in the script. And it was something that was very there in the script. And in fact, to the point that when I was cast for the part, I was almost amazed that they had cast me for this because I thought they would have chosen somebody maybe who's done parts like this before or has a body language similar to what this part demands. So I was quite impressed that they decided to cast somebody who is not like that. In fact, when I first went for initial meetings and rehearsals, there was a part of me which was almost thinking, are they sure? Are they going to change their mind? What's happening? Because it was very out of the box casting. So yes, it was written. And then because I was so conscious that I might not be able to pull it off because it's so not me, I worked on it with the director. I mean, we sort of talked about it a lot, but we both soon both of us found that we knew that we were on the same page. So we didn't need to over-articulate it or as I say, talk it away. Yeah, overthink it. Yeah, absolutely. And we got to talk to Pankaj Tripati just before I think season, I think it was just before season two came out. And he actually said that you were the best part of the entire season two. And y'all's chemistry was just so wonderful. I'm sure acting alongside of Pankaj was made your jobs extremely easy. Can you talk about working with him? Of course, he's a wonderful co-actor. He's just such an interesting human being that that just shines through in everything that he does. It's also like he can't keep the niceness away. So he's wonderful. And I keep telling him that, I feel like you come with your own lights because you're always glowing. Yeah. And so he's wonderful. And he's also got, besides being a very, very gifted actor, I think he's also very, he has a very strong command over language, which is I think one of his biggest strengths as an actor. So he articulates things very beautifully. He's able to change lines around in a very effective way to sort of meet the requirements of a scene in case they're not written like that. He also has an amazing sense of humor, which is, he's so funny. He just has that natural comic timing, which just, I mean, Pankaj just has to stand in front of me for two minutes and I'll probably laugh. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So there's that. I totally enjoy working with him. And he's also very receptive to a newness from a co-actor. Like I'm very, I don't enjoy working with actors who's, who, you know, if you throw something new at them, they'll say, hey, but this is not what we rehearsed. And I'm like, oh my God, we just lost an opportunity for something new, right? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm just so game for that always, you know. That if I throw something new at him, he'll receive it and throw something new back at me, you know, or just respond to it. And I think we're on the same page with that. In fact, all the actors in Mirzapur, even Divyendu, Divyendu and I went to, Divyendu plays Munnaviya, I'm sure, you know. And Divyendu and I went to the same film school. We were batch mates in acting school. So it was just so nice to have him around as well, because, you know, just these basic things where, you know, if your co-actor does something which is not rehearsed, not scripted, you receive it and you respond to it. You yes and rather than say, this is not what we had rehearsed. So it's great fun to work with actors like that. Funkages like that, Divyendu's like that. Yeah. Yes, and to you stupid babies who just heard her say yes and that is from her training, which is a great transition question because I have found that what you get experientially from actors that aren't wanting improv, which is where all of the life is in those moments, just in the moment, I have found that that typically comes from not having any background in training pretty much and the fear of the unknown, which training gets rid of and wants you to be in the unknown. What got you started? What made you want to be an actress and then what was the path in your training process if you could share a little bit about that? Actually, funny enough what got me to be an actress was that I was less ending to life at bad times. I had no strategy. I had done a little bit of theatre while I was a college student in Delhi. I studied at this lovely, liberal, culturally informed feminist college, which sort of was an eye-opener for me after I finished school in a small town in Jharkhand and then I went to study at Lady Sriram College, Alasar in Delhi. And suddenly there was this world of theatre and music and films, which I was introduced to and I spent every single moment and literature and I spent every single moment that I had in that college lapping up whatever I could because I felt like I had been starved up until then. So that was really like my cultural awakening, so to say. And theatre was a very strong part of that, but so I did a lot of theatre while I was in college and I watched a lot of theatre while I was in college, but I never ever had imagined that this would be a career for me because I had no precedence of that in my family. I had nobody around me who was doing that. So I just went on to then, yes, and life. And as luck would have it, I found myself in a postgraduate course, which taught film as a paper. So they had a combination of things. It was like a mass communication course which had papers in journalism, papers in film, papers in radio and television. And it was run by this lady called Jeru Mulla who was very, very passionate about film. So of all the papers that were there, films sort of automatically became one of the most important things because it was taught with so much passion. So I'd heard about the film school in Pune at that time because most of the prints that we would get of really old films to watch would come from the film Akhais, which was associated with the film school at that time. And the film school in Pune is a very integral part of the history of Indian cinema. It's also located physically in a space which used to be one of the first studios of Indian cinema called Prabhaad Studios. So I had been introduced to all of this, but like I said, I didn't have a plan. I finished the course and I went on to become an academic research assistant on several academic projects. I worked with Abhijeet Banerjee who got the Nobel Prize last year as a research assistant. I then worked on a project on gender and public space. And I was just doing whatever I thought was fun. Somebody wrote me an email and said, hey, here's a project on gender and public space. Come to Bombay. So I would come to Bombay. Somebody would write me an email and say, here's an interesting project in UPE on developmental economics. And I would be like, hey, I'll come. It was like that. So I was like I said, yes, and me. And similarly, I realized that while being in academic circles was very interesting, it was not something which I was very qualified for. At that stage, I had no background in social sciences. So I was wondering what I should be doing with my life. When I opened the newspaper and I read an article which said that the film school in Pune is restarting their acting course after 26 years. So I said, wow, that sounds like fun. Let me apply for this. So I applied to the film school. And it's a pretty rigorous entrance process. And I got through the entrance exam. And I only joined because the entrance exam was so difficult that I said, now that I've got through, let me just go. So I went to FTI. Little did I know that everybody around me who had come to be part of the acting course was very committed to being a star and had lots of acting experience. I had just dabbled in a little bit of theater in Bombay, in Delhi, I had some film studies sort of experience. And that's about it. Everybody there had been wanting to be an actor since they were children. So I was a little bit stumped by that. I was like, hey, really, you've been working towards this all your life. And I just sort of saw this in the newspaper two months back and said, let's try this course. This is great fun. And but six months into the course, I think I don't know what it was, but either it was the enthusiasm of people around me which was infectious, which I got on to. Or it was just, I think I just realized that this is something that I can never say I know how to do. And so that just kept me very interested. And I don't think I've ever felt as connected to anything that I had done in my life as I had to what was asked of me in those, say, in the first six, seven months of the course. And then I knew that this is what I'm going to be doing for a really, really long time. And since then, it's been such a single-minded, I've looked at this career with so much focus and almost an obsession, almost a very beautiful obsession. It's like finding a soul mate. So you have been part of, obviously, a ton of films, and now a bunch of, obviously, OTT platform TV shows, Mesa Perd, Daily Crime, Suitable Boy, OK Computer, all that kind of stuff. But you also do a lot of short films. So is that something that's really important to you just to diversify or is it just you find these wonderful roles in these short films that you have to be a part of? Can you talk a little bit about that? I enjoy the short film format a lot. I think it's harder and harder to tell a story when you have lesser time. I think the luxury of time allows you a lot, but you can also misuse it. And you can also, I believe that the best training for filmmakers, in fact, in India, is maybe ad filmmaking because the kind of advertising that happens in our country is very emotionally motivated. You know, they're actually 30-second emotional dramas. The way advertising, it's not informational at all. It's like really tugging at all the cords to sell you something, you know? Tugging all those emotional cords to sell you something. And I feel like it's harder and harder to tell a story well when you have lesser time. And you learn so much about how to utilize that time. And you learn so much about how to enrich every moment and everything that's present in your frame. So I think it's a very difficult form of filmmaking. I think that you have to be very precise and you have to be very particular about every single detail. And I enjoy that way of working a lot. I anyway enjoy directors who are obsessed about details. I love working with them. And I love obsessing with them about details. So I enjoy that format. But you know, short films are also sort of looked at as stepping stones for newcomers because typically they have smaller budgets and people might not be willing to put big monies on you, but they're willing to sort of experiment with the new director on a short film. So I think it's also a good space to sort of get to know newer talent. And I'm always excited about filmmakers who come with a fresh filming language. And that's always a thrill for me. So I think that's also a good space to sort of be around and to know what's happening with new storytellers, you know? Yeah. Yeah, we've seen, obviously, we've been really impressed with everything we've seen from India, but especially the short films that we've seen and we've seen many have all been uniformly extremely good. Like we saw chutney, we saw the school bag, we loved both of them. And it does seem that the short film genre is something that is, like you said, considered a stepping stone, which it very much is here. In fact, I think in America, actors consider the short film across the board to be a stepping stone, but many of them don't come back. Whereas in India, we see people like yourself, Nasseriddin Shah, Manoj Al-Lis, Hames goes down, Kalki Kaiklan has done it, and it's just this consistency with which established actors who don't need the stepping stone still wanna come back to the medium because it's that challenge you spoke of and it's turning out great quality work. So is that what you see as well? There's just this consistency that short films are considered something, yeah, I do TV series, I do film, I do short films and that stays as part of your repertoire? You know, I'm not so conscious of what my repertoire has. That's not the way I look at my career. I'm honestly just responding to things when they come to me and if they still exciting, I'll find time for them, you know? Yes, Anne. Yes, Anne. Yes, Anne. So that's how I think about it. And like I said, I'm excited about it because if it's introducing me to a new storyteller, a new director who sort of has his own language, then I'm excited about that. Yes, it's taking a risk. And in fact, I just shot a short film with Naseeruddin Shah and it's taking a risk with the director, right? It might turn out to be an experience which you might feel is sort of wasteful, but I think it's a risk worth taking. Time-wise, there's not so much to lose, you know? And if you do discover somebody you want to collaborate with in the future, it's a great find. Yeah, absolutely. You have worked with a ton of our favorite people. And we just watched Kisa and we'll get into that because we endured that. You've obviously worked with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, you've worked with Radhika, you've worked with Vijay Varma, you've worked with Pankha, you've worked with so many people. Is that an important part when you're choosing something to get onto? Is there other performers that you could work with? Increasingly, it's become one of the most important things for me, actually. My director and my co-actors. I would not do a project if I don't get a good sense of that. If I don't get a good feeling about that. Even if I have the best role and it's the best story, if that's not feeling right, I might not do it, you know? That's important. And I think as the years go by, that has become more and more important to me because more and more I've realized that filmmaking is such a collaborative exercise but such a personal exercise as well. And therefore, the people you work with have to have respect for your vulnerabilities and have to nurture that, you know? And if they don't have that, then it can be a destroying exercise. It can be heartbreaking. So I don't want to put myself through that at all. And it's hard to tell sometimes because it's not to say that I only want to work with people whose work I've seen, not at all. It's just about the kind of, for want of a better word, wide you get from people when you meet them. Because I'm always excited to work with people who haven't done so much work before as well because that's how all of us got a chance, right? Everybody took a chance on us. So we should take a chance on people who are new. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, as Corbin just said, we saw Kisa and we also saw Monto. Which of those two had you done first? I'm forgetting the sequence of them. I think Kisa was first and then Monto, yes? Yes. Yes, yes, yes. And we didn't get the honor of being able to speak with Irfan before he left. But obviously we'd love to know, we want to talk a little bit about Kisa, specifically your role and what you and Tilo Tama were able to do together. But what was it like to work with and had you worked with Irfan prior to that film? No, I hadn't. And it was pretty early on in my career in the sense it was one of the first big projects I had. I had been around for a while, but I'd done a lot of small parts and I had almost no work for a very long time before I got Kisa. So it was a very, very important film for me. And at that time Irfan was already a very established and celebrated actor. And I had absolutely no work to speak of. But the kind of attention and respect that I got from him and from Tiska and Tilo Tama and from Anoop Singh, the director of Kisa is something which I will always be very, very grateful for. Also, I think till date Kisa has been one of my best experiences as a performer because it was the first film that opened me up to the possibilities of performance and showed me for the first time that there can be magic in the action and cut. And I was so mesmerized by that. So just to give you an example, there was this scene that Irfan and I were shooting right at the end of the film. It's actually I think the second last scene of the film. It's right before Neeli. Right before Neeli. I don't even know what it is. I don't even know what it is. She doesn't jump, it's like she doesn't pause. No, she doesn't. It's just one of those things. We were shooting that scene on the terrace of that house and Kisa was a small-budget film. We didn't have the luxury of reshoots and we had very little time to shoot scenes and everybody had to always be on the ball. There was no room for mistakes. We were shooting in winters in Punjab. We had very little daylight time. So all of those things. And we're shooting this scene. This is roughly close to the end of the schedule of shooting the film. And so far the rest of the film is, in my opinion, been shot beautifully. And here we are shooting this one scene, which is so important. But there was just, on the day that we shot it, I just didn't feel anything. Like I just felt like I didn't know what this scene was about and there was nothing in the scene. And also it's a difficult space because the entire film is in the magic realism space. So there are no gimmicks to make it work, you know? Right. Because this was such an important film for me and almost in utter desperation, I just looked at Irfan and I said, I didn't say anything, but I just looked so desperate and he looked back at me and he said, As if to say, I know it's not working. I know you wanted to work, but hey, there are some days when it doesn't, you know? Because of his experience, he sort of knew that. But I was just like, somebody please find some magic for this to work. You know? I was like, anyway, a few days later, the director called me and he said that, can we reshoot the scene? And I said, of course we can reshoot the scene. It was- Please. Yeah, it was one of my days off and he said, would you be okay to come in tomorrow to reshoot the scene? I said, of course. And I went to the scene with so much anxiety because I felt I had to bring something great to this now because we are taking out time to reshoot it. And Anup as Anup is a very beautiful, lyrical and calm person. And he was like, no, no, just turn up. It's fine. So I turned up with extreme anxiety. Irfan was there. And I'm again looking at Irfan saying, what do I do to make this work? There was just this moment before we start the scene where it wasn't scripted. It wasn't choreographed. Where Irfan just holds my hand. And in fact, Anup took a shot of that later. It wasn't planned. It was not a direction written into the screenplay. And that for me transformed the entire scene. Now, how Irfan knew that, whether he did or did not or it was just something that he instinctively felt like doing, I don't know. But we did eight takes of that shot, I remember, because it was, you know, I get up and I look at him and I turn and I walk. So there was track. There was a track and all of that. So we had to do eight takes because of technical issues. But each one of those takes was magical and so beautiful that the things that I experienced in those takes is something so bizarre that I can't even articulate it. The bizarreness and the magic of the experience of those eight takes and all of them different from each other was like a masterclass in acting for me right there, you know. And years later, because Irfan had so much work, then I did even after Kissa. Years later when Kissa released, this was, we filmed in 2012 when 2015 was one of the first screenings before the release of the film. And I met Irfan outside the screening after we'd watched the film and he said, you know, you've done a great job. I said, thank you. And he said, you know, you remember that scene? Something had happened between us that day. And I said, yeah, you remember too. He said, it was not just me, you know. And then he also remembered after all those years. So yeah, that's a very special memory. That's a beautiful story. Beautiful story. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for an editor and a director to take the work that Irfan did and how much of his work ended up on the cutting room floor that you just looked at and went, no, bring that back. He said, the eight takes that you did. Now, on the other side of things, since it was a smaller budget and you didn't have a lot of time, I'm really interested. The chemistry between you and Tilakamba was absolutely gorgeous. And I gotta ask, did you have rehearsal time? Because considering a low budget, I'm imagining you didn't have a lot of rehearsal time? Actually, we ended up having a lot of rehearsal time, but the rehearsal time was not, there was less not because of an independent film but because I was cast very last minute onto the film. Somebody else was cast instead of me and they had a little bit of a fallout with the producers. And so I was cast about 10 days before we started filming. But once we got to the location, there were about eight days where because of some location issue, we hadn't started filming. So Tilakamba and I had eight days where we only spent time with each other going over the lines of the film endlessly. And also those 10 days that we were in Bombay, we met very often, we did small workshops. And with her, it was, I think from the, I remember we started with one very simple exercise which is pretty common in a lot of theater rehearsals where one person hides a pin on their body and the other person has to try and find it. You know, it's one of those basic starting out exercises and that was the first exercise that I did with Tilakamba. And I knew then that this was going to be a great marriage. Because it was on that day that we found the playfulness with those two characters. And both of us understood that that was important. And of course, Anup reiterated that in several ways, though he would never say it directly. All of us have a joke about Anup. You ask him, what do I have to do? And he says, let me tell you, let me recite this poem. And he'll never answer your question directly. He'll always be about a poem, about a film. And you know, sometimes when you're shooting, you're like, no, I just want to know what to do. Right. That's awesome. Yeah, the chemistry with everybody in that entire film was so wonderful. We really, really are glad that we were able to, one, find it and watch it. Because we know a lot of people weren't able to watch it. And after we posted our review, we saw a bunch of people that actually went and got to go see this masterpiece. So we're very, very happy about that. I want to talk about Monto a little bit. You've played a real person, I believe, a few times. And I believe this was one of them. How different is that for you to play somebody real as opposed to a fictional character? So I think the advantage that I had was there was not much known about Safiya Monto. A lot was known about Monto, but not many people even knew about Safiya. In fact, I had read a lot of Monto stories in college, but I'd never really heard of Safiya Monto. So I think it becomes easier to play a part where people don't have a preconceived idea of the person. I think the tougher job was for Nawaz because people had already an image of Monto and they were bound to, some were bound to be excited about what Nawaz brought and some were bound to be disappointed with what he brought because there's such a strong notion of what that person is in your mind already. So with Safiya, that didn't exist. In fact, even the part that Safiya has in the film was thanks to Nandita, where she spent so much time with the family and all of it is from anecdotal information from them. Monto has written almost nothing about his wife. In fact, there are only two or three places where there's a mention of her. And when I was preparing for the part and I was barely sort of involved in it, I remember one day I got really pissed off. I was like, why did he not write anything about me? Yeah, indeed. I was so mean. Did I not mean enough? That also makes me think of another question regarding the roles that you've played because obviously we haven't seen all of your work, but of the work that we've seen, you have an uncanny capacity to play pretty much any age range. At the same time, you also play characters that carry with them this maternal strength. And I'm wondering, aside from the people you are attracted to working with, directors and actors that you can trust, are there roles that attract you, a particular kind of role that you find challenging, or is everything for you, yes and? I don't know. I think subconsciously there are roles that you're more attracted to, which I might not be aware of. And while you were asking this question, and thank you for articulating it so beautifully where you said maternal strength, I was like, oh my God, yes, he has a point. So I hadn't noticed that about my own work like this till you mentioned it. But yes, I think that a lot of, I think I'm influenced a lot by the women I grew up with. And there was a quiet strength about them, which was so, they lived their lives with so much grace and dignity. But at the same time, with such thanklessness, I mean, people were so thankless to them for what they brought to their lives, that it's almost like I feel guilty about that. Safiya went to clearly for me, not at the time that I was being her, but later when I looked at the film, was my silent tribute to my grandmother, because she was this person who was always there for everybody, and everybody took her for granted all the time, and never really made her feel special for the many, many special things that she constantly did for everybody around her. So I think that the guilt of not having respected that for the women, and as a child, I would probably mimic what I saw around me as well. So maybe I didn't also respect it enough. So I think that now that I'm a woman, I sort of admire all of that so much more, and I really feel guilty for not respecting it enough. So I think that is always present. The first place we saw that that insane age range, I think the first thing we saw was Mizapar for you. And then we went into deli crimes. And so you went from like this, it's insanely powerful mother to this almost teenager it felt like. And so it almost blew our mind. We didn't recognize you for a little bit in deli crimes. It was extremely, extremely impressive. You're part of a lot of OTT platforms now. Is that some of a platform that you're very excited about that they're just telling really good stories? Is that why you're involved? Because you're involved in a suitable boy, an okay computer, I think there's another one, Mizapar, deli crimes, all this kind of stuff. You talk about working in OTT platforms? Well, it's been a boon for actors in the last few years. But I mean, as with every space, it does get cluttered. There is the good and bad, there as well. There have been so many positive changes, especially in my life because of the streaming services becoming popular. Like you said, this kind of variety is something that wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for streaming services. Because there really seems to be room for all sorts of genres here. There is no one genre which is successful and everybody's just sort of... Everybody's just sort of aping that formula. That hasn't happened. And I don't think that the way streaming services are designed, I don't think that that'll happen. There'll always be room for everyone. But yes, I mean, there has been a lot of clutter in the last few years. There's some incredibly bad writing also happening. There is also the pressure to... Most of the shows that I've worked on haven't given into that pressure. But there are other shows which have. There's a pressure to give into churning out a subsequent season quickly if the season has done well. And therefore the writing and quality of the show suffers. So there's sort of that there. Also, I mean now, even though they don't release numbers officially, there's also a sense now of what is making more numbers. The number game has always not been exciting to me. Because then it sort of really pushes you in the direction of a formula. So all that is I think happening here as well. And I don't know how interesting a space it will remain and for how long. But for now it still is. So I'm willing to sort of bask in the glory of it for as long as I feel creatively satisfied. And if I don't, then I will not. Do you have any hopes and dreams for doing things with your career that... I mean, obviously you've built it thus far with the yes and philosophy that you took from your acting understanding. But are there things now that you look at and you think, oh, I would love to do that, whether it was someone you'd love to work with and haven't yet? Or do you have any aspirations to be in a film that's outside of India, like particularly a Hollywood film or creators here that you'd love to work with? I would love to be in a biopic. I think that's one of those things which is really something I would like to sink my teeth into. Because like I said, it's such a tough one. People already have a preconceived idea of this person and you really have to try and match that, you know? And also it requires you essentially to have a very physical process as well because you have to sort of have mannerisms which are similar to this person. So I'm very excited to sort of if I get an opportunity to do that. And of course for working in Hollywood projects, I mean I'm very excited to work in something which is outside of my culture. I think that that kind of vulnerability, it would be interesting to see what that does to me as an actor, you know? Like you're working in a culture which you don't totally understand. And the nuances of which you have to sort of struggle to make your way through, you know? So yeah, I'm excited about that. Yeah. Well, we would be as well to see you in anything in the future. But especially if you ever come to Hollywood, that would be wonderful. We would love, there's so many artists from India that we would love that just Americans to know about and to see their work, yours included. It's just a dream of ours. Just make it here for the Americans to see Indian films that you guys have already made. It's one of our big aspirations. But I do want to finish this off. I want to thank you so much for talking to us with a little bit of rapid fire, just silly questions. Coffee or Chai? Coffee. Favorite alcoholic beverage if you drink alcohol? Whisky. Hell yeah. Favorite Hollywood film? Favorite prestige. Oh, interesting. Or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. There's a tie. Favorite Indian film, any region? Favorite Indian film? Mr. India. Oh, it's Shredevi, right? I love that film. Yes. I can watch it over and over again for the rest of my life. We haven't seen that one yet, but I hear a lot about it, so we're looking forward to getting to that one. It's great. I wonder how you would respond to it if you watched it for the first time now. I wonder. You might think it's tacky now, but because I've watched it earlier and continued to watch it many times, I love that film. Well, we've loved every classic we've seen from Sholay to Padosan to a bunch of others. The classics currently are 10 for 10. Favorite Hollywood director? Christopher Nolan. Favorite Indian director? Favorite Indian director, tough one. Vishal Bharadwaj. And favorite Hollywood actor? Favorite Hollywood actor. Or actress? Or both. Kate Blanchett, Olivia Coleman. Right now. Actor. I'm trying to think. Sorry. I'm obsessed with the women's performances. Kate Blanchett and Olivia Coleman are fantastic. And your favorite book? My favorite book is Pride and Prejudice. Very nice. Well, thank you so much for chatting with us. It was an absolute pleasure. You're extremely fun to talk to, just as much fun as you are to watch on screen. We are so much looking forward to everything you have in the future and seeing the stuff that you've already done that we haven't gotten to yet. And so good luck to you and hope you stay safe, Rick. Thank you so much. Thank you. This is great fun. Yeah, thank you for your time. We've been so blessed for the past two years to have interviews with people who... And this is really a criteria for us that the people we want to talk to are the artists that we have such deep respect and admiration for and we want to hear about their process. We want to understand what makes them tick as artists. And that's why we wanted to talk to you. Your work that you've done has been consistently beautiful. And we are some of your biggest fans cheering for you and looking forward to the work that you have ahead as you continue to say yes and, when we see your name on it, we'll be saying yes and and watching it and sharing it with the stupid family. So thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Thank you. You have a great night, okay? Bye-bye. Have a good night.