KUBBRA STEALS THE SHOW
KUBBRA SAIT HAS PLAYED BOTH Antonio in The Merchant of Venice and a convict in The Bishop’s
Candlesticks. So she didn’t bat an eyelid when she was offered the role of the transgender character Kukoo on Netflix series Sacred
Games. “Why does our level of curiosity, innocence and childlike joy change when you are a professional?” she asks.
Not every actress would have been confident enough in her femininity to take the part. And it turns out transgender actors weren’t willing to take the role, as they didn’t want to admit their gender identity, director Anurag Kashap told her. “I was taken aback by that, because if you don’t talk about it, then who will?” Sait says.
A compelling presence over the four episodes in which she appears, Sait uses her eyes to portray Kukoo’s charisma and vulnerability. “I was not approaching it as a transgender, I was being human,” she says. “I was playing her as gender neutral as possible.”
Born in Bangalore, Sait was a bullied kid until her sixth grade. “I changed three schools,” she says. “My name, my eyes, which are today my strength, were a liability then.” The childhood was further marred by the absence of an exemplary father. She came into her own in debates, plays and other extracurricular activities, but earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and went to Dubai to work for Microsoft for five years before realising that acting was her true calling. At 27, she came to Mumbai and joined Barry John’s acting class, an experience she calls a “failed experiment”. “He used to sleep in class,” she says.
Before landing a role that tapped her acting potential, Sait was an anchor for the Pro Kabaddi League, hosted events and landed forgettable bit parts in Ready and
Sultan. Kashyap had not seen her work on Amazon Prime series
Going Viral. Instead, he had seen her YouTube videos as a host. “He said he noticed in me an exuberant person who isn’t afraid to make an ass of herself,” she says. After a few days of shooting, she was worried she wasn’t doing the part justice. But her fears were allayed when she heard Kashyap telling Nawazuddin Siddiqui that she “had wasted so much time” before her talent was discovered.
Sait is aware her time is now. Since Sacred Games released, she has already signed another web series. She will also be seen in Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boys in 2019. Like Kukoo, Sait intends to capitalise on her fortune. And as Kashyap said, “This is just your beginning.”