Konkona SenSharma: I Enjoy Things That Are Under-Represented And Underexplored | Exclusive

Actor-filmmaker Konkona SenSharma is riding high on the success of her short story, The Mirror, which formed a part of Lust Stories 2. The film starring Tillotama Shome and Amruta Subhash is themed on voyeurism and has been winning raving reviews for its nuanced portrayal of lust from a female gaze. Sharing her excitement about the same, Konkona, in an exclusive conversation with News18 Showsha, says, “I’m so amazed. It’s so lovely to see all kinds of people like the film and connect with. I enjoy content that’s a little thought-provoking.”

She believes that it’s the novelty of the plot that has made The Mirror resonate with so many audiences across demographics. “I enjoy things that I haven’t seen before, things that are under-represented and underexplored. Those are things that are exciting to watch for me. And that’s something I tried doing with The Mirror too, showcasing things that we haven’t really dealt with and things that are slightly dangerous,” she states.

A post shared by Konkona Sensharma (@konkona)

Konkona, who began her directorial journey with the critically acclaimed Vikrant Massey starrer A Death In The Gunj (2017), says that she has been receiving messages about how a hush-hush topic like lust has now become a dinner table conversation thanks to her recent short. “I enjoy that kind of thinking. I’m so overwhelmed. I’m so happy. I don’t know if it’s the little social media bubble but I’m just basking in all the love,” she adds.

For the 43-year-old, the sensibility with which she has helmed the short has stemmed from her exposure to world cinema. Recently, she took the cinephile in her a notch higher as she joined hands with Mubi for their second edition of ‘Handpicked By’. As part of this collaboration, she will handpick seven diverse films for the platform, providing film enthusiasts with an opportunity to indulge in distinct cinematic content. And two of those films have been chosen by her for extremely personal reasons.

She elaborates, “I’ve included two films, Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (1921) and The 400 Blows (1959), for my son. It’s thanks to Mubi that I was able to show my son Abbas Kiarostami’s film, Where Is The Friend’s House (1987). I re-watched it with him. The Kid and Where Is The Friend’s House affected him deeply. These are two films that are very different from the regular, run-of-the-mill films that most kids are watching. The Kid is absolutely beautiful. It’s so funny and tender and has so much compassion. It’s very easy to connect to even though it’s in black and white and has no dialogue. A lot of humanity comes through this film. It’s an easy watch as well. These, along with The 400 Blows, are important for kids to watch as they create empathy.”

Yet another title Konkona has picked is a defining French film, which had ‘a very strong impact’ on her as a child and actor. “Jules Et Jim (1962) really impacted me. I watched it very early on in my life, I was quite young. Even though it’s a film made in black and white, it’s such a modern film. The use of the voiceover in it is such that it’s very phonetic and fast-paced. It doesn’t give the impression that it’s boring, slow or art-house. It has a very unusual set-up. It’s about a woman and two men but isn’t necessarily a sexual woman-two men equation,” she remarks.

Its thought-provoking nature went on to leave an impression on Konkona and the actor and director she’s today. “It’s about how their relationships over time keep changing and shifting. It gives you a sense of human beings connecting over a period of time in different ways and the nature of life and humanity. It’s told with such a lightness. In fact, there’s a French song in that film which I’ve memorised and sung to my son. And it has a very dark and unusual ending, which blew my mind when I watched it the first time,” says the actor, who will next be seen in Soup and Metro In Dino.