Imagination, visualisation are incredible tools: Kubbra Sait
What with her muchtalked-about roles of Kuckoo and Mamie, Kubbra Sait finds it funny how she’s stuck with such character names in showbiz. But she’s really happy about how her career is shaping up. Kubbra feels her roles in the popular web series Sacred Games and the more recent reality inspired series, The Verdict — State vs Nanavati, have helped her gain a stronger power of imagination.
Kubbra says, “In my journey, with stories like this, what happened is that I went to Google and I searched Mamie Ahuja, and I found two pictures of her. There were no stories about her. She is the least spoken of in the story... And funnily, the same thing happened in case of Kuckoo.”
When she landed her careerchanging role as a transgender in Sacred Games, she ran and got the book that the series is based on. “Then I was like, ‘Damn, she is not there, not in the glossary, nowhere.’ And then, I remember being told, ‘Let it be... there’s just one line. Just remember you’re going to be important in the show’.”
This taught Kubbra that sometimes “you just have to fall free into the arms of the creativity” and “trust them”.
It helped in not having much to fall back upon for these characters. For Mamie’s part in the show inspired by one of India’s most sensational court cases, Kubbra was asked to work on her
“best interpretation of the character”. And that’s what she did.
“I am ‘ha ha’ all the time, so was Kuckoo... But imagination and visualisation are two of the most incredible tools to transport yourself to a world that exists somewhere or could exist somewhere. That was the beauty of Avatar,” she says.
While she hopes there are many more such roles waiting to happen to her, she admits she’s not yet in a place where she can choose a script she wants to do. But there’s a silver lining to that, too.
“We are in a place where the scripts are choosing us, and I think it’s great fortune. Also, it is due to the preparation over the years that we are ready to take the opportunities up, grab them by the horns and deliver,” says the actor, who finds it amazing how there’s such a variety of characters to take on.
What it does to her as a human being, she says, is “unlock little chambers in the head”. “You start opening up, you start experiencing, you start rejoicing in these moments. And then when you are preparing for your next, I think that’s the journey that you eventually enjoy,” she adds.
We are in a place where the scripts are choosing us, and I think it’s great fortune. Also, it is due to the preparation over the years that we are ready to take the opportunities up...
KUBBRA SAIT ACTOR