Actor Rasika Dugal, who was last seen as Safiya in Nandita Das’ Manto, took her acting prowess a notch above by playing mother to an eight-year-old in Aijaz Khan’s Hamid. Produced by Yoodlee Films, Hamid had a world premiere at the recently concluded 20th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.Dugal, who had earned rave reviews for her uncanny resemblance to Safiya and also for her portrayal of Manto’s wife, seemed quite at ease playing the on-screen mother in Hamid—a story set in Jammu and Kashmir.
She says, “It is a heartwarming and simple story of a mother and son living in a conflict zone. I don’t have any maternal instincts in real life, but playing one onscreen was a cake walk. Filming is a tough process, and shooting with children can be difficult. They are not trained actors and have a short attention span, but I managed to make the most of my maternal instincts in reel life for this role.” The film also stars Sumit Kaul and Vikas Kumar in pivotal roles.
In the film, Ishrat’s husband goes missing, and the tragic incident leaves a searing impact on her, making her indifferent towards Hamid, and the entire world. The boy helplessly seeks answers about his father’s whereabouts and in an attempt to reach out to him, dials God’s number 786, and after many combinations manages to get it right. The person on the other end of the phone and Hamid unknowingly change each other’s world for the better.
Web series Mirzapur that went on air last week has Dugal sharing screen space with Pankaj Tripathi. “It is a never-seen-before cinematic outing for me. Playing Beena was quite a wonderful experience, and the best part was being paired opposite a great actor like Pankaj. I have a huge admiration for his work, so the best takeaway of working with him was learning from him.”
Dugal has had the opportunity to explore all possible mediums. She says, “Unlike films which have time-bound shooting schedules and the pressure is on canning the shoot within deadlines, a web series allows me to get in the character. Once a film has been shot, it is done and dusted. Theatre, on the other hand, gives a lot more chance to improve oneself with every show.”
Up next is a web series tentatively titled Delhi Police by Indo-Canadian writer and director Richie Mehta. Dugal, an alumna of Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi, will don a cop’s avatar for the series. She says, “It was fun playing an IPS officer who tries to crack the criminal cases along with her team. And again, the best part was working with great actors such as Shefali Shah and Adil Hussain.”Dugal’s dream role, however, remains just one. “I want to play the illustrious writer Amrita Pritam in a biopic based on her life,” she says with a chuckle.