"I'VE COME ON THE SET AT FIVE IN THE EVENING AND MY SHOT HAS BEGUN AT FIVE THE NEXT MORNING"
ON ONE SIDE OF THE TUNNEL, THERE IS THE ROTTING STENCH OF THE 'PRICE OF FAME' THAT FILTERS THROUGH, AND ON THE OTHER END, THERE IS A DAZZLING FLAME – THE LIGHT OF GLORY THAT ENTICINGLY BECKONS YOU. NOT MANY CAN RESIST THE WORLD OF GLITZ AND GLAMOUR. MOUNI ROY, OUR CURRENT PREY, IN REAL AND REEL LIFE, THE ADORED DAMSEL IN DISTRESS PLAYING KRISHNA TULSI (KT) IN KYUNKI SAAS BHI KABHI BAHU THI, IS NO EXCEPTION. MOUNI CAME TO MUMBAI FROM A SMALL TOWN IN WEST BENGAL WITH DREAMS IN HER EYES. AND WELL, THE GOING HAS BEEN GOOD SO FAR. IT'S SAID THAT FATE HAS A ROAD MAP ALREADY PICKED OUT FOR YOU. CASUALLY CLAD IN COTTON PANTS AND A PLAIN VEST, DUE TO DOLL UP FOR HER ACT, THIS PRETTY BENGALI GIRL IS READY TO REVEAL HER STORY.
Mouni left her hometown after schooling to do a BA with English Honours from Delhi and then, to further pursue an MA in Mass Communications. The media bug had bit her already. Where did Balaji come in? "My friends and I had just gone for the auditions since they were being held outside my university in Delhi, in a studio. It was a Sunday evening and we had nothing to do. At that time, the part offered was of Bhoomi in Kyunki…. There was the role of the good girl and the bad girl, and the lines for the bad girl were much easier to audition for!"
A week later, they reverted back to her. "At first, they called me for another character, then they said that the role has been shifted to Krishna Tulsi. Initially, I was not very sure whether I wanted to do it or not, as the cast of Kyunki… is huge. There wouldn't be anything important enough for me. But they assured me that it is a very important role."
She was clear that she did not want to be lost in the crowd. Smart move. And how did the folks back home react to all this suddenly materialising? Hesitatingly, she laughs, "My parents were not fine. This was not a planned career move. I had secured an internship in Delhi but the world of TV allured me. The thought of being independent, the money and everyone said, 'Why not give it a try?' Besides, I was due to begin working anyway, so I chose this and came to Mumbai." She goes on to add, "My mom was more comfortable with it, but my dad didn't speak to me for about three months! Now it is all resolved though."
Kyunki… launched her into the most controversial TV family, the Virani parivar, as the daughter of Tulsi Virani. Success has a way of going up and over your head, at such times. Word has it that she is not really part of the 'parivar' so to speak. To put it plainly, it seems that Miss Mouni Roy is difficult to work with. Her inputs on the matter confirmed it to be so. "Every place has its pros and cons. Yes, there are a lot of things that I wouldn't like, but this has nothing to do with Balaji. All that comes along with working in this industry. Daily soaps have a telecast schedule to follow, and that is where the problems begin."
Maybe it would suit her better to slip into a role of lesser importance in the show. Under the pressure of being the new Krishna Tulsi, the new favourite daughter of the audience, it is natural to crumble. But we don't like to compromise now, do we? Mouni enlightens us, "I don't think there was any pressure. The name Tulsi being attached to my name was not the matter; it was for me to get into the skin of the character. The idea of facing the camera was so nauseating that I would look at the camera and feel it was going to come and gobble me up! It has been a year now, and till date, I wouldn't say that I am perfect or claim that nobody can play a better Krishna Tulsi than me.
Although I have more or less understood her and all that makes her. At home and while in college, you have all the freedom in the world; you can be dominating in whichever area you want to. I want everything to go my way, but that does not happen necessarily on time. At a work place, there is a rule book you have to refer to, and that was a little difficult for me. Now I'm fine though, I think."
Do the co-stars agree with Mouni's proclamations of her 'being fine' now? If you don't know already, her on-screen romance with co-actor Pulkit Samrat, does not even come close to translating to camaraderie as soon as the camera stops rolling. "I am very well acquainted with Pulkit, but we are not very good friends or close friends. There are some people that you don't click with, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't be friends. I don't think I have any personal problems with him. When you work with a person for 12 hours a day, there are going to be few things that you like, and there will be several others that you don't.
Both of us have different temperaments; we have our share of likes and dislikes. The problems that two people working together might have, those are the very type of problems I have with him, nothing more. He's the best co-star that I could have worked with." She emphasises, "I can't imagine working with anyone else. I'm not conscious while I'm working with him as compared to other co-stars, where I'll be nervous about my lines. He, in many ways, makes me very comfortable. Initially, I would hesitate a lot, and that is the time that it helped to work with him."
Mouni is also said to have thrown temper tantrums while shooting. One year down in an industry, where there are people who have spent decades, does not exactly qualify to make allowances for 'diva-like' behaviour. Take for example the time when she had reportedly started burning papers, while sitting bored in her make-up van! In her defence, Mouni explains, "I would like to clarify this; it was around the month of January, a time when on a minimum scale, I have waited on the set for my shot for about eight hours every day! There have been times when I have come on the set at five in the evening and my shot has begun at five the next morning!
So for those 12 hours, I am made to wait. When you work such long hours, the irritation and frustration builds up. That very day, I was extremely irritated and I was playing around with some tissue papers and a lighter. There was no one on the sets; it was about four in the morning. The paper didn't even fall on the ground; it was in my hand all along. They came and told me that the fire alarm would go off. That was all. Nothing in the van caught fire. Two months later, I see a write-up in a newspaper, dated as though it happened a few days ago! They had their facts all wrong."
As regards her being short tempered, she says, "I don't throw tantrums but yes, I get snappy. I don't shout or howl or anything such. I don't blame anyone, as it's not anyone's fault. The telecast has to be on time. The audience is not going to bother about what is going on, on the sets of Kyunki…You feel like a criminal at times because you leave work and then they are calling you within a couple of hours again to come back to shoot! The public often knows only half the story.
They should know that I am also retaliating to what is being given to me, from the set or the place I work. Then again, it has to do with the fact that I was not prepared to deal with all this. When I see my other colleagues like Reshmi (Ghosh), I see that they too are made to wait. But they do not behave the way I do. In a way though, I have had to handle more than them. After being here for five-six years, they know how it all works. When I came in, I jumped into the whole scene. I had no conviction in my work back then and was very nervous and dissatisfied with myself."
All this negativity apart, Mouni has successfully grown into her character, KT, and has become the girl thousands relate to. As the plot thickened, her character recently required for her to perform a rape sequence, which she was extremely reluctant to enact. "Oh that, I really don't know how I managed it. I think I just survived because I had my most favourite director, Gary, to see me through. When the idea came up I said, 'No, I'm not doing it. Please use shadows or duplicates or a body double. I will just do the close-ups.' Then Gary sat me down and explained to me how important it was for me to do this scene myself. He said that in sensuous scenes, romantic shots or something as sensitive as a rape scene, you should never allow someone else to do it for you.
If a body double is used, there'd be a change in body language and chemistry, when the scene is finally portrayed. All said and done, I was prepared. But yet, it left a mark on my memory. I felt like for that day (it was a nine-hour sequence), I lived the whole experience myself. The part where I later go to the bathroom and I am crying, basically howling in shame as I can't face myself – it was all just horrible! I feel rape, for a girl, is a very sensitive issue and coming from Delhi, I was aware of the atrocities of the subject. Cases of such happenings within the vicinity of my university, a place which has a police station within range and a marketplace five minutes away…college students being dragged into a van, gang-raped and thrown on the street; horrendous crimes committed by 16 and 17-year-olds! I wouldn't ever want to do a rape scene again in my life!" she says, very obviously antagonized.
Mouni seems decided about what she is looking at next. Surprisingly enough, it is not bagging loads of other roles. "At the moment, I want to return to my dancing. It has been a year for me here, and I feel I can afford to take some time off. I'm sure they too will understand. I look at it purely as work – I come here, I work and I go back home. It is not a place where you make friends or enemies; I have realised this. When people have to be your friends, they will be by your side. In the meanwhile, you should be acquainted with everybody, be nice to everybody – which I took a longer time to understand, but I'm fine now," she concludes with a wry smile. Well, it's never too late to start afresh and Mouni probably knows that by now.
Book Talk
Aami Daakini
