Q&A WITH APARNA SEN

Aparna Sen, filmmaker and actor, on women, friendship, films and music

Q: Sonata revolves around three women past their 50s who are friends. Women make good friends because...

A: Well, heterosexual women definitely do because they avoid the pitfalls of a couple. Lesbian women could do if they don’t have lovers’ spats. Jokes aside, I think friendship between women is like a sisterhood.

Q: You speak with an accent in Sonata. What accent is the most fun putting on?

A: The ones I find the easiest are Anglo-Indian and Tamil accents.

Q: Your daughter Konkona says she wasn’t allowed to watch DDLJ as a child... which books and films were you denied because they were deemed too frivolous?

A: We weren’t allowed comics because they would make us lazy. Or any serialised novels that came out in magazines.

Q: A film you wish you had made?

A: (Ingmar) Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. Is that too obscure? Maybe Fatih Akin’s Edge of Heaven. And The Godfather series.

Q: There’s a lot of wine in Sonata. Your favourite liquor?

A: I like red wine. Chianti, Bordeaux, Shiraz... among single malts, I like Oban.