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‘I TRY TO BEAT ODDS OF REJECTION BY PREPARING A LOT FOR AUDITIONS’
Sarita Choudhury, who will be the part of Sex and the City revival, opens up on paving her way in the global entertainment industry
As someone who has been in the industry for over two decades now, Indian-origin English actor Sarita Choudhury, admits witnessing changes in terms of casting of South Asian actors in the West.
Sharing her thoughts on the colour-blind casting, or the theatrical practice of casting actors from different racial or ethnic backgrounds, she says, “I’m colour blind myself. So, I’ve always just pretended over the last two decades that the business is also (like that).”
Having made her debut with Mira Nair’s directorial, Mississippi Masala (1991), Choudhury has starred in films such as She Hate Me (2004), A Hologram for the King (2016), among others. She feels being an actor and surviving this tough business is a “defying” act in itself. “I just try to beat the odds of rejection by preparing a lot for auditions, and hopefully changing someone’s mind. Minds and the gate keepers have to change. It is an exciting time, it is still slow, but we are all part of this change,” shares the actor.
Also, her casting in Sex and the City revival, And Just Like That generated a lot of interest. Choudhury will reportedly star as single, self-made powerhouse Manhattan real estate broker, Seema Patel. Excited about being a part of the series, she says, “This is going to be super fun. It’s going to be high heels, lipstick, and the scripts are witty and grounded in our modern-day daily neurosis. I live in New York, and it feels very natural to be part of this new rendition of the show.”
Choudhury feels rather lucky to have the kind of filmography that she has. “I’ve always had a sense of what films I’d like to do. For me, it starts with a good script or a good director. The role doesn’t matter as much… It’s been a long journey. One that’s getting easier,” shares the 54year-old, who’ll be next seen in The Green Knight with another Indianorigin actor, Dev Patel.
“I loved working with Dev. He is very funny, very kind,” she says. Talking about her experience of working in the American fantasy film, Choudhury says she loved every moment of being part of the project and had much to learn.
“You can use your imagination and invent things as you act. It makes you feel free as actor. Also, David Lowery (the director) is a meticulous, hard-working, yet somehow very open to ideas kind of guy. He’s just on set always tinkering with some equipment or writing down some thought. It makes you want to do your best as well,” she signs off.
It’s never easy to speak up about casting couch in Bollywood, which continues to remain a grey area of the industry. Having confessed about facing it, actor Aradhana Sharma says opening up about it comes with many consequences.
The actor, who started off her journey through reality shows and later featured in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, shared a nasty experience where an individual tried to touch her at inappropriate places on pretext of casting for film. Even though the incident dates back to 2017, the scars remain.
“It continues to impact me, and affect me. But the reactions I got after opening up about the incident shocked and surprised me,” she tells us, adding, “I was told ‘tumhara career khatam ho sakta hai jo tumne yeh casting couch ke baare mein bola hai.’”
Sharma admits all these remarks did have an influence on her. “I went into depression, thinking I don’t even have a right to talk openly about something which has happened to me,” she shares, adding that the exact line was ‘Aap abhi utni badi ho nahi jo yeh sab bolo’.
At that time, she used to call her mum and cry thinking her career is over, and is glad all those people were proved wrong, with work coming her way steadily. Sharma clarifies the industry is not bad, but casting couch is a reality . “Just it’s not talked about much, but someone has to start, that’s what I did,” she ends.
I The reactions got after opening up about the incident shocked me. and surprised
ARADHANA SHARMA,