Mira Sethi is a well educated and classy woman with strong values, however, her role in Chupke Chupke has been a topic of debate and discussion. In a comedy play, where her co-actors won love and admiration, she received a lot of hate for playing a toxic character.
She played Gul e Rana who is a toxic sister and her problematic behaviour made viewers question Mira for her choice to take on the role.
In a chat with Hassan Choudary of Something Haute, the actor, writer and amazing human being, Mira, admitted that Gul was the center of all conflict in the drama. She also shared her thoughts about playing a (kind of) negative character in a full-fledged comedy-drama, her reservations, thoughts about the content being created and her wish to create content she connects with, the power that actors have when it comes to making changes against the producers’ interest and her journey as an accomplished and published writer.
“I only got 4 episodes to make the decision,” shared Mira revealing that she did not see that she was going to play such a negative character. “She’s quite cruel, she’s quite a toxic character,” she admits.
“When something gets build as a comedy, no matter how intense your lines are, you feel they are going to be in a comedic way. But when we went on set, things were different. Everyone was doing comedy and Gul wasn’t allowed.”
Mira said that while she wanted to do comedy, the director of the play, Danish Nawaz took her to the side and told her that her role does not demand comedy. She was the center of all conflict. In fact, she was also asked to use a high pitched tone along with hand gestures while performing that made her uncomfortable.
“My character had to be crass. It was a challenge and I had to own it,” she said adding that an actor is a blank canvas. Mira also shared that she received a lot of hate and abuse. “Evil and toxic characters also exist in real life, and it is important to play them too,” she explained. However, if she’s offered to play a part in case there is a sequel, she would love to speak to the writer in advance and add shades of grey to her character too.
Watch the complete interview here:
