Sushmita Sen on portraying the role of Ganesh in 'Taali': That was one of my biggest panics

Sushmita Sen is currently basking in the success of her web show 'Taali' which premiered on Jio Cinemas on 15th August. In the show, Sushmita reprises the role of the transgender activist Shreegauri Sawant. Sushmita was highly lauded for her impeccabble performance in the show and the way she stepped into the shoes of the character. Recently the actress joined India Forums in a candid conversation and talked about her role, 'inclusivity' in India and how she looks at social media as a tool. 

When asked "Sushmita, in one show itself we saw so many transitions of yours as you yourself said Ganesh and Gauri. Especially talking about Ganesh you know playing someone in the middle 20s like, and when we first saw you in that short hair look, I was actually stunned by that more. So how did you pull that off and what was the mental preparation you had to go through playing a guy and that too in the 20s?"

To this, she replied, 

"You see that was one of my biggest panics. Gauri is more effeminate at the end of the day. So I kept saying to sir, how will I play Ganesh? First the masculine factor and then how do you get a 26 year old's, you know, naivety in it, that innocence in it. He kept saying, just trust the process. You will believe it yourself. But a huge thank you to Mr. Atul Mongia, my workshop teacher. He told me on the first day that we all have a masculine or a feminine side. Are you in touch with your masculine side? I said, yes. What does that mean to you? So I made a long list of what it means to me. So he said, keep that at the back of your mind."

Further explaining it she added,

"he said, don't do anything else. Just go out of the room and come back in more masculine. So I did and of course I did a lot of those and you know all that and then he's like, don't do all that. Just the thought. Let the thought be there. Then I went back out again, came back. I became more masculine than feminine and then he said, forget about masculine and feminine and just be. Naturally, the scene will aid you, the dialogues will aid you, your co-actors will aid you, the environment will aid you. Trust the process. So by the time I came on the sets, it was not as difficult as I had imagined."

Created by Arjun Singgh Baran and Kartk D Nishandar and directed by Ravi Jadhav, the show is currently available on Jio Cinemas.