The doctor with a healing touch
Recently in SA for a BBC Upfront event, Amrita Acharia chats about her breakthrough role on Game of Thrones and bagging a plum part in The Good Karma Hospital, writes Debashine Thangevelo
AMRITA Acharia bagged the role of Irri, a Dothraki handmaiden, in two seasons of the hit medieval fantasy series, Game of Thrones. Her character was killed off in the second season. But she can still brag about her big break in what is undoubtedly one of the biggest TV shows of our time.
Acharia says, “It was one of my first jobs, so it was quite a while back. It was a great initiation into the industry. I was lucky to have that platform to start off with.”
Two movie roles later, she bagged the part of Dr Ruby Walker in The Good Karma Hospital.
Recalling her character’s journey into season two, she reveals, “The first season sort of brings you into the show through my character’s perspective. She’s a junior doctor there in the UK. She decides to make a change and move to India to find herself. It’s the usual sort of thing that you do when you’ve been through a break up and a bit of a hard time. She arrives in India to a cottage hospital, which is quite rundown and understaffed.
The series followed her journey as a young British doctor coming into an environment that she has not really known or experienced before and how she finds her feet, both as a doctor and as a person. At the end of the season, she chose to stay.”
The 30-year-old actress, born to a Nepalese father and Ukrainian mother, continues, “In the second season, what’s interesting about my character is that she is half-asian and half-english and doesn’t really know anything about her Asian roots or her Asian dad. When she finds her feet more, she sort of gets more curious about where she is from when her extended family get in touch with her. And so we follow her journey where she is trying to figure out whether to delve into the past or leave it alone.”
This is not the only personal conundrum in her life.
She says, “Like most stories, there’s always a romance. I think the interesting thing between her relationship with Dr Gabriel Varma (James Floyd) is that it is very unpredictable and it’s a little bit more like a power struggle. They are not sure how they feel about each other and they sort of know how to push each other’s buttons. I think in season two, they are sussing each other out while also opening up a little bit more. But she has got a lot of stuff going on and it feels like she is not really ready for all of it.”
On Sri Lanka being chosen as the location for the shoot, she notes, “I enjoy the warmth, the backdrop and the people. While the long days makes it challenging to shoot because of the heat, I enjoy being away from home as it allows me to focus on work.”
She adds: “The nice thing about my character is that she is malleable. Even though she is stubborn, she isn’t stuck to her own ways. She is able to evolve, change and understand. Yes, it is a culture shock for her, especially in season one. In season two, she stands her ground and has her own opinion. Sometimes she meddles too much. But I think she does have a wider understanding that things are different and she won’t ever really feel the same or completely identify with. But she can definitely try and understand.”
Meanwhile, Welcome to Curiosity, a movie she shot four years ago, is releasing soon.
She says, “It’s an Indie movie so it took some time to get the funding. I can’t give away much about the character because it is part of the twist. I guess the best way to put it is to say that she is a damaged individual with a bit of secret.”
Pre-production for The Good Karma Hospital Season 3 is under way.
The Good Karma Hospital airs on Monday on BBC Brit (Dstv channel 120) at 8pm.