Arjun Mathur confirms there’s no Made in Heaven Season 3: ‘Can’t take 4-5 years for every season…’

Arjun: I haven’t been keeping a count. But if you are, you must be right.

Rasika: We didn’t notice it till you pointed it out. So, clearly it’s not a thing for us. But ya, thank you for keeping track.

Arjun: No, it’s a good feeling, of course. Let’s put it this way: it’s not necessarily the medium that gives us more or less joy. But it’s definitely the medium that first attracted us. So for our film to be on the big screen is great. And a film like this!

Have we reached that place post-pandemic where a film like this can coexist with a Kantara: Chapter 1?

Rasika: I honestly don’t know what’s happening with films that are or aren’t doing well. Even the people who were very sure are right now in a situation where they’re also not quite sure. That’s a great place for experimentation. Therefore, it’s a good time for a film like this, or for a Sabar Bonda or a Homebound.

Arjun: We’re not analysts, but coexistence is the best of what we can hope for any way.

Interestingly, Anshuman played a filmmaker in his debut film as an actor, Dibakar Banerjee’s Love Sex Aur Dhokha. And now, he turns a director himself in real life. Does it help when an actor directs other actors?

Rasika: One was wary that for those who have been actors for so long, the easiest way to communicate is by performing it. Sometimes non-actors also (laughs). I find that a very confusing instruction. Because then I’m trying very hard to keep myself from mimicking the person instead of experiencing it. That’s not a style of direction I’m very happy with. It could’ve gone that way, but it absolutely did not. The workshopping was done very correctly. Because some workshops can be very counterproductive. They should be able to create a world for you, rather than giving you instructions for a result-oriented emotion. That’s not the idea. So this was absolutely a dream workshop space.

Lord Curzon Ki Haveli is a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. As actors, how did you crack the tone of the film?

Arjun: The tone of this film really revealed itself to me after even I’d signed on to act in it. The workshops were the time when everything was thrown on the table, and whatever was to be found was actually found there. By the time we went on floors, we had quite a grasp on our characters. But even then, the tone further revealed itself to me while filming.

Rasika: Tone is one of the hardest things for an actor to understand. I don’t even think I’ve to try and have it figured out. Most good directors, including Anshuman, don’t give you tonality instructions. They give you other instructions so that you fit into their tonality. So, that’s their vision and thinking. They’re the link. So, I don’t bother myself with it because if I do, I might falter with it later.

A still from Lord Curzon Ki Haveli.

You two have a great chemistry in this film, despite not having worked together earlier, except for the last episode of Made in Heaven season 1, where Rasika had a guest appearance as the drugged bride. Do you remember that?

Arjun: We barely shot together then because she was drugged through the episode. Then she’s made to escape quietly, so 0ur characters don’t even get to meet much. If at all, we only had crowd scenes. But yea, this was the first time. We’ve been aware of each other’s work for a long time, known each other off camera, and were dying to work together. So, I’m very grateful. In fact, Anshuman hooked me by saying Rasika is playing that character.

Rasika: And he hooked me like that too, by saying Arjun is doing that character.

Arjun, are you glad there’s no Made in Heaven season 3, so that you can move on to other characters without that sword dangling over your head?

Arjun: That question, “When is Made in Heaven season 3 coming out?,” keeps cropping up even now. But ya, there’s no season 3. I’d have loved if it was going for multiple seasons, but each season can’t take more than four-five years. So main ussey bahut jaldi buddha ho jaunga (I will get very old very fast like that). So yeah, it’s ended at two seasons.

Rasika, your character in this film, Ira, is a suppressed wife to an British husband of Indian origin. How familiar was this territory to you?

Rasika: I know so many women like Ira it’s unbelievable. I could name 20 women whom I’ve grown up around who are like this. They have this real zest and energy for life. And you can’t dampen that no matter where they are. There’s just a spark. They’ll have all their fun underneath all the conformist layers. They always find ways to do that. That’s always been exciting for me. I’ve always found that moving, but also very interesting — the inner lives of women! My mother and my six sisters are all different versions of Ira. They’re so much fun, they’re always giggling. They have a WhatsApp group called ‘Spice Girls’ (laughs).

Do you also see your character Beena Tripathi from Mirzapur as a ‘Spice Girl’?

Rasika: Not at all. Beena sucks the lives out of other people (laughs)! She’s very, very astute and clever. In fact, she’s somebody whom I don’t know. That character was very exciting for me because I felt I’ve never experienced being like that or known or understood somebody like that closely. So, the two characters were exciting to play for different reasons. In Ira’s case, it gets into a territory where if what you know plays out in a very dark way, what would it be like.

Pankaj Tripathi and Rasika Dugal in Mirzapur.

Of the two characters you keep going back to — Beena Tripathi and Neeti Singh (from Delhi Crime) — which is the easier one to slip back into?

Rasika: Always Delhi Crime for me, because Neeti Singh is someone I relate to completely. This is exactly how I was in my Delhi University days — very idealistic and sincere. So it’s very easy for me. I’m never nervous about that one. I’m more excited and nervous about Mirzapur because I keep thinking, where is my Beena? Is she still around? (Laughs).

Rasika Dugal in Delhi Crime.

Arjun, you’ve also worked as an actor in British shows. What’s that acting there gives you that acting here doesn’t?

Arjun: Silence on set (laughs). That’s something I think we can really pick up from an international crew — the focused attention of each person on their own work in silence. It’s genuinely taken very seriously there. Everybody’s doing their work of course, but the actor is trying to create something out of the ether which loud sounds and people making noise aren’t conducive to. When you don’t have to ask for that on set, you’re like, wow! And also, royalties!

Rasika: Yeah, that’s a dukhti rag (pain point).

Also Read — Rasika Dugal is tired of crying: ‘Every script offered to me at least had two scenes where I was shedding tears’

Arjun, you started your career as an Assistant Director on Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005), Bunty Aur Babli (2005), and Rang De Basanti (2006). Have you not considered going the Anshuman way and turning a director?

Arjun: I have… and I can’t share (laughs). Let’s see, who know? Life is long and unpredictable.

Rasika: But if you ask Arjun something and he agrees, he doesn’t say “yes,” but says, “Copy!” It’s a very AD thing to say, on a walkie-talkie!

Arjun: Yeah, that becomes a thing. Even in my dreams, I can hear only walkie-talkies!

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