Actress Rasika Dugal, who receives love, hate, and sympathy for playing the role of Beena Tripathi in the hit series Mirzapur, spoke to Moneycontrol recently in a heart-to-heart talk.
Rasika, who has many hit shows to her credit, expressed the real reason that made her fall in love with Beena.
"I think she really allows me to explore the side of myself that I don't allow myself to explore in my real life. That's what I look forward to about her. I really look forward to playing Beena every season. I have always admired women who unapologetically wear their sexuality on their sleeves. I have always found it beautiful to watch. Every time I see a woman like that, I look at them almost enviously. We have always been taught as women—bad girl or good girl—because we live in this patriarchal society. You overall live in a society that is so conscious of its progressiveness that it is actually telling you it is regressive," she said.
Talking more about Beena, Rasika said that there is an aura about her that pulls people towards her. "I have always felt that my body language has been very small. I am a small-hearted person. I feel that here there is a woman (Beena) who doesn't do much, but you are still attracted to her. There is an aura about her. Because when you have such a character, it becomes a challenge for the actor because you cannot point your finger to one thing that contributed to that aura. You can't say ki usne aisa kiya isliye woh attractive; ya uski body type aisi hai toh woh sexual way mein attractive hai. Beena is none of that; there is something about that person that would make you give them more attention than you would give a normal person. That I feel is a very interesting challenge to create as an actor," she told Moneycontrol.
Rasika's character, Beena, is married to Kaalin Bhaiya, played by Pankaj Tripathi. In this season, she is seen with her own toddler son and is living with Golu (Shweta Tripathi) and Guddu (Ali Fazal). She also eyes the Gaddi, not knowing that her husband, Kaalin Bhaiya, is alive.
Rasika said Beena has always done things subtly.
"Beena has always done things very subtly, and it is not in the face at all. Behind the scenes, she works. Uska ye hi hai pata nahi chalta, but she is orchestrating a lot of things. In this season, she is the only one whose truth is not revealed to anyone that she had coluded with Guddu and Golu. Madhuri and Kaleen think she is a victim, but she is not. She is a collaborator and the colluder without anyone even knowing," she said with a smile.
According to Rasika, Beena is a master manipulator and is eyeing the gaddi of Mirzapur for herself. She said, "She is a master manipulator; she really knows how to play people and play them to her advantage. Now she is eyeing the gaddi for her son, but it is still unclear with Beena or with any power that, once you start getting closer to it, how much more do you want of it? I always feel that she is playing the mother card to some extent, but I feel she would like to be the powerful person herself. She wants a legacy for her son, but she would like to be the powerful person who will preserve the legacy as well. and I guess that's what she is hoping to do. In the scene where she speaks to Madhuri, it is like that it is a burden on her 'ki hum hi mirzapur sambhal lete hain'. When you get closer to power, then everybody wants a bigger piece of the pie. I guess she is the same. But when Kaleen feels that her life is back to square one, Till then, she had a chance to get the gaddi and preserve it for herself."
Talking about the mixed reactions that Mirzapur Season 3 has received from the audience, Rasika said characters will evolve over the years and things will change.
She said some might like the season and some might not, but they will keep working on the suggestions too.
"I think subsequent seasons are going to change. It's a pattern they should follow, and every season cannot be a replica of the other one. That is not what we want to do as creative people. Of course, people take time adjusting to it, and somebody might like it or somebody might not like it. All in all, as an audience, you have the freedom to decide what you like and what you don't like, but as creators, we also have the freedom to explore and do different kinds of things. Some storylines might be more palatable to some people, some might be less palatable to others, and I think it is all part of the game. As creative people, we also learn to accept it. I am not saying ki hum itne zen hai ki hum shuru se hi sab kuch hamare liye theek hai; every comment is feeback; nothing is personal; aisa nahi hai," she said.
Talking about the long list of versatile actors she has worked with, Rasika said she has been very lucky in the co-actor department. She has worked with the likes of Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, to name a few.
"I have been very lucky in the co-actor department, like Shweta. Irrfan, Nawaz, and Arjun are many of the names that she mentioned. This cast—I knew them pehle se hi. I had worked with them previously. Pankaj and I had done a show called Powder 10 years before I did Mirzapur. I remember when I first met Pankaj on the sets of Mirzapur, we started discussing this one scene from our show Powder. So I asked him, Ki woh scene babut khoobsurat hua tha kya hum wapas kar payenge? Pankaj, in his wisdom, said, Usse Bhi Acchha karenge. "Vijay was one batch junior, and Dibyendu was my batchmate. It was just so lovely to work with them. It was my first time working with Divyendu after the institute," said Rasika.
Also read: Mirzapur Season 3 sets the stage ablaze with Raga's explosive rap anthem
Rasika was all praise for her co-actor, Divyendu, who is her classmate from FTII, Pune, and said she loved working with him.
"There was a scene in Mirzapur where Beena semi-seduced Munna (Divyendu). I remember we were doing a scene. We were taught at the institute, which I hold very dear to me: you will never instruct your co-actor, even if the co-actor is doing something you were not expecting, but you just accept it. You cannot stop and say, Ki aap kya kar rahe ho. This is a no-go in my book too. But I remember there was some technical issue while filming the scene, and I asked Divyendu, Should I change this so that it is easier for you to do that? He said, No, no, 'You do what you have to; I will figure it out.' I was like, Yay, my batchmate from the institute is here."
Mirzapur's first season aired in 2018, and it was a big hit. Actors like Pankaj Tripathi, Rasika Dugal, Ali Fazal, Shweta Tripathi, Vijay Varma, and Divyendu became overnight stars, and to date, they are loved for their performances in the show.
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