How different was the experience of shooting?
I quite enjoyed shooting with an international unit on a foreign location. This was the first time I was travelling without the entourage of my make-up man, spot-boy and hairdresser and felt entirely baggage free, quite liberating frankly.
You
didn’t feel lonely at the end of the day?
I did, particularly when the days were very cold and I wanted to eat hot Indian
food but I enjoyed my space too. I always carry my books and music with me
wherever I travel and I made friends with the unit too so all of us went out
together on a couple of occasions. The hotel where we were staying was in the
heart of Manhattan city so it was very easy to just stroll into a theatre,
restaurant or to a Broadway show whenever one felt like.
How
do you prepare for a role?
It depends from role to role. Mira didn’t want me to over prepare for the
character, besides I’m familiar with the Bengali culture and customs because
all my friends are Bengalis and live in Kolkata. My look
for the character and the backdrop was the least of my problem because I knew
Mira would work out the details. I also knew that she has extensive workshops
and would guide us on the journey.
To be continued