LARA SCORES A HUNDRED

On and off screen, Lara Dutta isn’t one to cower. In her new web show, Hundred, she plays a police officer who acts on her ambitions despite a patriarchal hierarchy

In the Hotstar show, Hundred, your character faces rampant sexism at work and is denied due credit. Did it feel personal? Most working women have faced some sort of sexism, regardless of industry. In the largely male-dominated film industry, we have faced it ourselves. All the female officers I spoke to while preparing to play Saumya (her character), function in an environment where you can’t show any kind of weakness or femininity.

India loves to put its women on a pedestal, but this show revels in the flaws of its two leading ladies…

I loved that she was a badass, had her vices and was unapologetically ambitious. As a female actor, very rarely do you get an opportunity to play such a layered character. Most of the female characters on screen are very one-dimensional.

What has your lockdown routine been like?

Not much has changed for Hesh (Mahesh Bhupathi) and me. We are both homebodies. The lockdown has meant having him around 24x7. Being an athlete, he has quite a disciplined workout routine and he ensures that Sara [their daughter] and I get some amount of exercise. I have also taken up two Harvard online courses.

And what has been your biggest lesson from the pandemic? I knew someone who had no underlying health issues and still lost his life to COVID. So, I know what life is really about now. You have your family, health, work, and I am grateful for that. I am not waiting for life to resume. It is happening now.