The first season of the Amazon Prime original web series Mirzapur had released four years back. The crime thriller series starring Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Divyenndu, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Vikrant Massey, and Shriya Pilgaonkar opened to critical acclaim and became a part of pop culture. It remains one of the most popular home-grown shows of all time.
As Mirzapur marks four years today, Shweta, who plays the no-nonsense, strong and revengeful Gajgamini ‘Golu’ Gupta, took to social media and shared a series of BTS images with her co-stars. “4 years to the madness, to the undying love, to the bhaukaal that changed all our lives!! Mirzapur, lab hai hamaara!!” she wrote on Instagram.
While the actor had already proved her mettle with her performances in Masaan (2015) and Haraamkhor (2017), Mirzapur added another feather to her hat and proved to be a game-changer in her career. An icon of woman empowerment, Golu defied the societal norms of a middle-class girl in a tier-three city.
Talking about what makes Golu one of her most favourite characters, Shweta says, “There’s so much of loss, love and anger in her life… the emotional arc of the character attracted me to play the part. I like playing characters that are edgier, tougher and morally hazy. I prefer stories that raise the barrier to a higher level of emotion and Golu definitely did that!”
Recalling the first time she read the script of the show produced by Excel Entertainment, the 37-year-old shares, “I had an emotional reaction and response when I first heard the story of Mirzapur and when I first heard Golu’s story. My creative gut was happy and dancing.”
She further adds, “In fact, I had read the script of the first season of Mirzapur at the Hyderabad airport while on my way for a narration. I started reading the script at the airport and after reading the first episode, I just knew I had to be a part of this world, even though Golu wasn’t a part of that episode.”
For Shweta, who began shooting for the third season of Mirzapur in June this year, working on the series is nothing short of an actor’s dream come. “It is very important (for an actor) to see what kind of world and the actors that they are associating themselves with, and for Mirzapur, everything from the cast and the producers to the writer and the director just checked the list for me,” she expresses.
