Swastika Mukherjee says she felt ‘miserable’ while shooting Qala, reveals her daughter called after watching film: ‘She was howling’

But five days later, the actor read the script of Qala and an emotional dam burst open. “When she gave me the script and I heard the narration, I felt like I knew these people, this world, because while having those conversations, Anvitaa had told me what she was wanting to do with the film. Now I have done a lot of films, but this time I was in tears! It has never happened to me before,” she told indianexpress.com.

 

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The actor said she was so moved by Qala even on paper, that she kept feeling a creatin helplessness as she wrapped her head around the fractured relationship between the mother and daughter.

“I kept telling Anvitaa, can’t these people talk? Can we do nothing about it? I know it is a tale, but I kept telling her can you just not write this and write something else. Can’t we see them in a better space? Because I felt so helpless.”

Swastika carried that helplessness to the film’s shoot, which she credits for “sailing her through” to portray Urmila to perfection. But it all came rushing back, months later, when her daughter watched the film and felt equally broken.

“As an outsider to their space, I felt miserable, I really wanted to do something. When my daughter watched the film, she called me, she was howling on the phone. She kept telling me the same thing: Why couldn’t they just talk?

“Why couldn’t somebody do something for them? Why didn’t they have friends or relatives, somebody who could help them. I felt bad because she was crying on the phone, and she stays far away. But I also felt good that the helplessness I felt as an actor, others did too.”

Swastika is aware that what Qala offered her as an actor is rare. If she reads ten scripts a year, only two make her eyes pop out with wonderment. Qala was one of them.

“I am very hungry, greedy as an actor. I want to do something that makes me uncomfortable. That’s the only way you can grow. If you are working for too long, if you have worked in all mediums, if you have experimented with your character, you search for work that taps those something inside you.

“To play a character that is real and raw, you give a lot of yourself into it. As an actor I want to look for roles that make me work harder. It doesn’t happen all the time, but I cherish parts which make me sit up from chair and go, ‘Oh my God!'” she concluded.

Qala also stars Amit Sial, lyricist Varun Grover and has been produced by Karnesh Ssharma, who previously collaborated with Anvitaa Dutt for Bulbbul. The film’s music is by Amit Trivedi with lyrics by Anvitaa, Varun, Swanand Kirkire and Kausar Munir.