Actress Kritika Kamra has made quite a mark with the web series Bambai Meri Jaan. She talks about her role…

Nonika Singh

I am a softie, avers the lovely actress Kritika Kamra. Yet, she pulled it off as the vengeful Habiba in Bambai Meri Jaan. Standing her ground among the band of gangsters, the reference points for her were not films of similar genre, certainly not Haseena Parkar, which by the way she has not seen. Rather, she says, “Certain emotions are universal.”

On an intimate note

As nudity and profanity has become a staple in OTT shows, how does Kritika Kamra, hailing from a middle-class family, respond? “Well, I did warn my parents before they began watching the show.” On a serious note, she says, “What matters is the intent. It is not to generate cheap thrills. When you are telling a tale of gangsters, it becomes a demand of the narrative.” Doing intimate scenes is not out of bounds for her. Rather, she reminds how there are intimacy coordinators on the sets. While caning an intimate scene for the web series Tandav, she recalls, “Everyone was asked to move out and I was made comfortable. I felt really respected as a woman.”

Besides, she shares how the script at hand was rather dense and detailed. “Shujaat Saudagar was not an easy director to please. Thus, there was not one but many briefs, how to keep it all authentic, the language conversational with no bombastic dialoguebaazi even though it may have been prevalent in the cinema of the 1970s and 80s,” she says.

Class apart

With umpteen workshops and rehearsals to guide them all, she recalls, “It was akin to being in a class and all of us were scolded at some point or the other.” But what happens when the class has actors like Kay Kay Menon, Nivedita Bhattacharya and Avinash Tiwary? Where do you stand? She laughs, “Oh, they are in a different class (read league) altogether.” One thing she learnt from the ensemble cast of talented actors was, “Discipline and how each actor put the show above themselves. There was no rivalry, no competitiveness and no desire to outshine each other.”

With source material of the series coming from S Hussain Zaidi’s book Dongri to Dubai, she insists, “The characters are not based on any real persons, but are fictional.” As for inhabiting the dark space that both the series and her character demanded, she reasons, “You try not to judge your character. Nor do you try to justify her or other gangsters in the series.” Of course, there are tools to get into and out of the character. She adds, “The only thing you take home are the precious moments from the sets and the relationships you forge while shooting.”

Thus, the bonding with Avinash Tiwary, who plays her doting brother Dara in the series, has spilled over in real life. Bonhomie prevails with her other onscreen brothers too.

More the merrier

Though she thinks she was almost like a boy in the family of three brothers, she was told to play Habiba as an alpha woman, but not tomboyish. With the show designed as three seasons, you bet her act will get more power-packed in the ensuing seasons. Even otherwise she has an exciting line-up ahead. Apart from starring in a show with Pratik Gandhi, with whom she has worked in the film Mitron too, she has just finished shooting for Gyaarah Gyaarah, co-produced by Oscar-winner Guneet Monga and Karan Johar.

Although when Kritika landed in Mumbai she already had a television show going for her, she asserts, “It is not easy to survive.” Thus, to all her close family and friends her advice is, “If you have a plan B, don’t become an actor. Pursue acting only if you are consumed by it.”  

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