Television actress Barkha Sengupta, considering it as a taboo, feels that women working in this industry undergo several other grave struggles and challenges. She believes that the physical aspect of this profession is at the bottom of the list.
In an interview, Barkha, who recently portrayed a prostitute’s character in Anil V. Kumar’s original work ‘Ratri Ke Yatri’ opens up on her experience of working in the show and breaking sexual taboos.
Essaying the role of a sex worker in the show, how did you manage to adapt to the language and gestures of the character? she said, Well essaying a character from the red-light area is always a challenge because it’s a side of life which you probably won’t have seen. Normally, as an actor, we take experiences from our real life and put that into the character we portray on the screen. But to portray a character that you probably will never meet in life or have contact with is definitely a challenge. I think the director plays a huge role here because you have to go by conviction of the director. So that’s exactly what I did.
I followed Anil Sir’s ideology of how this character should be. Thankfully, he didn’t let me play the character typically which is loud, sometimes abusive and over the top. He made me play the character like a very normal person. Also, I am a mother in this story. So, the whole thing of being motherhood and a real normal person is what I believe they are. I actually believe they are the real people at the end of the day. I am really grateful that he didn’t make me really go over the top and show who you are. I just played the character like a normal person. And of course, the script was extremely powerful and that helped. I was really lucky that way.
I think while making Ratri Ke Yatri, we were on some kind of mission that we have to break some taboo or simply out there to prove a point. But yes, we definitely hoped this show helps people if not break a taboo but understand the sensitivity and emotions. If you see, Ratri Ke Yatri is a very sensitive show and it imparts a certain amount of wisdom. The kind of experiences that these people from red-light go through, I would say they have more wisdom than a lot of other people having cushioned lives. So, yes, I do feel, through our show, people would at least try to understand other perspectives and the thought behind certain professions, said Barkha.
