A second coming: Priyanka Bose on working in Hollywood film 'Lion' and contemplating a web series

With a Hollywood film and a web series in hand, the Lion actress opens up on new choices and old

October 20, 2017 03:40 pm | Updated 06:29 pm IST

As someone who loves Nicole Kidman’s trajectory of work, you would expect Priyanka Bose to have had a fan girl moment on the Oscar red carpet. Instead, the actor — who was at the Dolby Theatre earlier this year, with the cast of Lion — chatted about patriarchy, misogyny and gender roles with the Australian star. “Nicole vibrates with a free spirit and our energies are almost the same. And though we didn’t have any scenes together, we had a lot to talk about,” begins Bose.

Throughout our conversation, she drops such surprising nuggets with a forthrightness that is refreshing. Like the fact that, despite wishing to work with names like Vishal Bharadwaj and Steven Spielberg, she wants to bank on newer talent. “When I see Barry Jenkins’ (director and co-writer of Oscar-winning Moonlight ) success story, I’m like there are so many Barry Jenkins in India; let’s start supporting real people with real stories,” she says.

Changing perspectives

Bose has been in the industry for some time now, but she’s always been on the brink: of making it. “I am not the prototype. I wanted projects that would allow my individualistic voice to shine through,” she notes, recalling days when she’d wake up and have nothing to do.

“Sometimes to find your voice, you have to go through a lot of rejection. So I changed my perspective; I read a lot, had better script analysis, and told people I’m ready for challenges.” And it helped. Casting director Tess Joseph put her on tape for Lion and, one meeting with director Garth Davis later, she landed the role of Kamla Munshi. Today, she admits more people reach out to her, and her new worry is ensuring she isn’t typecast.

Looking back at the Lion shoot, the Mumbai-based actor-producer and mother of an eight-year-old girl says she was quite comfortable on set. It wasn’t her first time with an international crew — she played the lead in Gangor, an Italian Indian film directed by Italo Spinelli, which premièred at the Rome International Film Festival in 2010.

The fact that Davis shared “her frequency”, also made things easier. While much has been written about how Bose and actor Dev Patel (who played Saroo) workshopped for the final scene, one of her biggest challenges was getting over her nervousness.

“I felt I had been given such a great opportunity, I better do justice to the role and the woman’s life.” Ahead of the shoot, she spoke with the real life Munshi for 10 minutes and “realised I was on the right track. So I decided to go with my own intuition,” says Bose, who still keeps in touch with Patel, and tries to catch up whenever she is in Los Angeles.

 

Take two

With her third international project, Mortal , wrapped up — a coming-of-age Hollywood film, of a superhero with powers from Norse mythology — she is finalising new ones, including some indie projects.

“I’m reading a lot of good material which wasn’t there even a year ago,” she says. Agents in Los Angeles and the United Kingdom are keeping her apprised, though the latter is also on the look out for good parts in theatre. A web series is on the cards, too, though she wants to keep it under wraps for now. Bose adds that she is also looking to explore her career as a producer (she’s done several music videos and a short film so far).

“I have put it out there that I am up for collaborations. We get powerful only when we support each other,” she concludes.

Catch Lion tomorrow, at 1 pm and 9 pm on &Privé HD.

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