In a candid conversation with Tanmaya Das, actor, Tina Desai, reveals that films facilitate conversations about sensitive issues
Outsiders, especially those without godfathers, find it hard to make a career in the film industry. The actor, Tina Desai, appears in Mumbai Diaries 26/11 after performing in Table No 21, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Sense8. Working overseas has altered her perspective on professionalism because she has been exposed to a diverse range of people, cultures, and other factors.
She had wanted to be an actress when she was young, but she was completely aware of the industry’s dismal success rate. She expresses, “In my seventh or eighth standard, I had decided that I wanted to be an actor because I love the world that was created in the film, but I also realised by general observation that the success rate is quite low. So, I made sure that I have a proper education that would help me in future. I finished my degree in business management as I thought if acting didn’t work out then I would never be jobless in my life. Luckily, acting worked out, I got my ad, my first film and now it is all going good thankfully.”
When asked what she enjoys about acting, she says that films are excellent storytellers and an effective medium for communicating messages to audiences, as most of the films today are based on conventional topics. Furthermore, cinema is an art- form that facilitates discussions on sensitive issues such as, religion, love, and so on.
Her role in Sense8 was critically acclaimed but the portrayal of her character, Ananya Ghosh, was quite instinctive, as initially, she was just grasping the idea of Ananya’s personality. “When I was cast for the part, I just got three episodes to read. However, I was blindly auditioning without knowing enough about my character. During that moment, I thought about what would I do if I were in that situation, and that is how I performed. There was a lot of comedy in it, along with some amount of senses and other emotions. I was genuinely worried about whether I wanted to perform and how my family would react to certain scenes. For me, Sense8 was a very exploratory experience, as most of the scenes were shot twice like one shot in Berlin while the other was shot in London and so forth, but I realised that that the same scene would feel different at different places because of the atmosphere. There was indeed a lot of creative freedom,” she reveals.
Her idea of lovemaking is transformed, as she believes that it is much more spiritual than it looks. Complimenting her co-star Max Reimelt, she adds, “My full credit goes to my co-star and a very good friend Max. I felt comfortable with him; it didn’t feel awkward as we already built that friendship, and I realised that in lovemaking scenes, trust must be paramount. So, even in some scenes, there were eight or nine people, just to make it comfortable for everyone, they would crack jokes or be silly and funny so that the nervousness would vanish. In such circumstances, everybody understands everyone’s awkwardness, but no one tries to be judgemental or insensitive about anything.”
Similarly, her portrayal of Ananya Ghosh, hotel staff, in Mumbai Diaries 26/11 was awe-struck. She addresses that to prepare for the intense role in the series, she watched the interviews, read multiple books, and did whatever she could to give justice to the series. She also praised her director, Nikhil Advani, for creating a fantastic atmosphere that already evoked feelings of apprehension, excitement, and tension. To bring out the reality in the web series, most of the moments were tough and tensed, as either one had to put out the fire, calm the guest, or avoid gunfire. She respects Ananya’s responsibility as a young woman who must make decisions and prepares an escape plan, yet her humility and strength enabled her to face the disaster without making a fuss.
Tina concludes that she has several forthcoming projects. Her next project is directed by Shaad Ali, and it is a remake of a BBC show, Guilt.
