Sheena Chohan will be playing the lead in Aditya Om’s historical biopic of Sant Tukaram alongside Subodh Bhave. The actress has previously created ripples with her work in Madhuri Dixit starrer Fame Game, The City Of Dreams 2, The Train and Ant Story. She’ll also be headlining the much-awaited legal drama The Good Wife featuring Kajol.
In an exclusive conversation with News18 Showsha, Sheena got candid about working with Subodh Bhave and Aditya Om, recalled her debut film with South Megastar Mammootty, talked about her character in The Good Wife and more.
Let’s first talk about your upcoming film Sant Tukaram. Now the first poster of the film is really intriguing. What was it like for you to work with Subodh Bhave and Aditya Om?
it was an honour to be a part of this film. It’s an amazing historic biopic and he is a legend in the Marathi history. I play revered Marathi saint Sant Tukaram’s wife Jeejabai and she is a loving wife who is very aware of how well respected her husband is and I feel she always stood by him in difficult times and she was very determined and practical. And my character is very fierce and determined. She wants Tukaram to fulfill his worldly responsibilities but also she has a retort towards it. But eventually on realising his divine connections, she becomes one of his greatest supporters and pillars of strength. It was a very challenging role because I had to put my heart and soul into bringing out the experiences undergone by her in real life. Playing a fictional character is very different. But playing a historic character is something else. I had to do a lot of research actually. Reading many historical books, studying about her..Coming to the point of working with Aditya Om, it was really amazing to work with him because he gave me the freedom and yet he had a vision and he wanted me to really look at films like Mother India, a lot of Smita Patil’s films where she had played village woman.Because it’s a very different life. And when I went on the sets in Bhor, I would observe these villagers as to how they live. Studying their mannerisms and then I was able to take my ideas and my research to what Aditya Sir wanted and together we crafted what was his vision. Because eventually it’s the director’s vision. It was his vision of Jijabai and he brought that to life. So it was a very amazing creative process working with Aditya.
Considering it’s a historical biopic and you have to do justice to a historical character, at any given point were you nervous or intimidated?
To be honest, I was very excited. As an actor, I started when I was in school. I did a lot of theatre. I studied theatre with the leading theatre directors. When I was in school, I did about two dozens plays. From Ek Mamuli Aadmi to Kanti. I was always in the groove of learning to create characters. I love theatre so much, it gives you lessons you can’t get from anywhere. Like learning about conviction of the character, and yet being a blank page for the director. Because no matter how much researching and understanding and fitting into the character you do, it’s very important to collaborate with the vision of what your director wants on the sets in the moment. Those were the spontaneous moments that I was looking forward to. I was excited. That excitement I had and the energy I carried into the film and the simplicity of it was just more from the sense of surrendering myself to Aditya. And he saw dedication and conviction in me. I trusted my director and therefore that trust that I am in good hands and whatever we create, I trust the director that he’ll bring the best out of everything, his character and how he sees it. Giving my best to the performance was my goal and the stage work I had done in the theatre helped me a lot. Plus keeping myself very open. I still take on-line acting classes from LA once a week. So somewhere you are prepared through your research and through your work. And then I surrendered myself to Aditya and he created this amazing character together.
What was it like working with Subodh Bhave?
Subodh Bhave is a complete professional and his sense of knowledge about his craft is phenomenal. He still does theatre and travels around the world even today.
First of all, this shoot was a lot of hard work. Most of the time it was work so we were actually shooting on the sets where Bajirao Mastani was shot and the villages and interiors of that place. So most of the time our interactions were on the sets. Between shots, we talked about his career. He has done about 90 films. He is known as the king of biopic and he used to tell me stories about when he started to travel from Pune for five hours in Mumbai and then go back. He didn’t have money. So I picked up a lot of inspiration from him and I used to pick his brain about art and camera angles. And talk to him about art and craft. Because he knows everything about cinema. He has even directed a film that recently won an award. The songs that we shot for were a lot of fun. And the funniest thing was how in between takes
he switches on and off. So we were sitting on this beautiful machaan in the middle of the village and he suddenly took out his camera and he was taking selfies. He would be a complete professional when it came to creating the character. But when it came to in between breaks, he would completely become carefree and relaxed. Because he had shot in Bhor a lot, he introduced the entire team to the authentic Maharashtrian Thali and he took the entire team to eat Bhakadi, local cuisines and delicacies. He was really amazing to work with. A real professional but at the same time very knowledgeable. I remember asking him how was the experience of working together and he told me ‘You are so uninhibited Sheena and focused and keeping in mind the camera angles, the emotions and your character. All of that and bring that forward he was telling me how to do that better’. So I learnt a lot. He was like a true inspiration in terms of art, skill, craft and knowledge.
Now I was looking at your filmography and your work and you sort of have proved your versatility on all kinds of genres and languages. What according to you was the most demanding character, role or film that took everything out of you?
I think aspiring to give the very best of performances I can has always been my goal. The Indian cinema has gone through a huge change in the last few years. There is a demand to become more natural, more subtle. So if you look into the kind of characters that I had played. From my first project with Mammootty where I played his wife to playing the female lead in Ant Story where I essayed an actress. That was actually very challenging for me. Because she was based on a real life story of this actress who was a mega superstar and how she fell into the trap of show business. I shot that with an international film maker named Mustafa Sarwar Farooqi. He had just finished a film with Nawaz. Before that he did a film with Irrfan. Before that he shot with me for a film where I actually was nominated best actress. To answer your question, the most challenging role I would say is Ant Story in the international Film circuit which was also commercially released and as far as biopic is concerned, challenging in terms of performance and emotional journey in bringing real life person where I put my heart and soul will be Jijabai.
You made your debut with the 2011 film The Train alongside the legendary actor Mammootty. When you look back now, can you recall some lessons from the sets that really stuck with you? Or during the course of the film?
Working with Mammootty Sir again he has done so many films and he is a legendary icon. He was also relaxed and very professional. It was a great experience working with him. I remember taking back huge amount of his dedication towards his craft, his ability to be spontaneous. Even the director I was working with wanted things to very organic. One thing that I took back was if you see Mamooty has a lot of passion towards his work. And also he is like a bank page for the director he is working with. So for me , I took back that passion. Because when you are putting in passion, be it a film or play or OTT like Mammootty. I think I learnt from him how to ignore any noise and just keep myself focused on the acting and give my acting performance all my passion and professionalism. I think that’s one thing I took from my experience of working with him. I am very passionate person but that’s one thing I take with me in any film. I put my heart and soul into any script that I am part of. I feel like I am a storyteller. I want to be a part of good films and projects and Fortunately I am attracting projects that have the courage to do something new.
Between 2011 and 2023, you’ve acted in some really brilliant films but you sort of stayed away from the ‘quintessential mainstream Bollywood films’. So I am curious, was it because you were very specific about the kind of films you wanted to do or is there another reason?
Initially, when I came into the industry and I got my first character, I would say I was drawn to the kind of cinema that is world cinema. There is no specific reason. It’s been a great journey. As an actor, because of the sense of wanting to be working with directors from all over the world, I’ve been able to travel to countless top film festivals. And I got to portray a variety of roles in the process in different languages. It’s just the beginning. I think now to be very honest, it’s a new phase because I am enjoying myself as an artist. To take risks has been a part of my creative choices. This year, I have four releases and I’ve been acting since I was a child. Since I did my theatre in Kolkata. Then after that, I remember using my money and everything to get into theatre and do experimental theatre with Arvind Gaur. And that’s how I started. And the love and development of art and acting and the conviction of character that how it started. Through it now I feel… initially like I said it was always about how I could be the part of projects which are equally exciting to me and have good directors but now I am very open to good content. And I want to be a part of good content. I was interested in working in the indie and niché places as I really think they make good cinema driven by good stories. And that was my main reason. And then I decide to explore everything possible and now my goal is to be a part of good content that is being created everywhere and I think I have to able to make myself do those kind of projects. I see myself simply as a storyteller and I want to do films that are being made all over the world.
Now coming to your next series The Good Wife which is highly anticipated. What role do you play in that series and what was it like collaborating with Kajol?
I play a Christian Girl from Bandra who runs into big trouble. It’s a legal drama. It’s very intense and independent. But when we are not playing something we aren’t familiar with, I think there is also a certain thrill and excitement, fear and nervousness..I like that because I trust that energy to make mistakes and then something can go wrong. But what if it goes right? Then you end up being able to being the first to do something or change the way something is seen. It’s almost like a gentle revolution. I think I am addicted to some kind of risk taking as a person and I want to do that and I do that through my creative choices. So I spent 3-4 Sundays in the churches in Bandra. I visited the home of this young girl. I met her a lot of time and how she grew up in the Bombay Bandra suburb. They are different and it’s a different life. As opposed to South Mumbai and I am not from Mumbai..I live in Mumbai. To really understand and fit into my character, I took all of these research of meeting and understanding of how a Bandra Christian girl going to a Catholic church lives her life, how she lives it day to day life, why she goes to the church and what does Jesus mean to her. And I took that and I really enjoyed working with my director Supan Varma to be honest. He is amazing. Because playing such an innocent girl in a cut throat legal drama was a brilliant contrast that Suparna really used wisely and brought the most angles out of the character and research. And top of that, working with Kajol and doing scenes with her. She is such a powerhouse. She is so spontaneous. And you are talking about a legend and iconic we all have grown up watching. So I hugely admire her for the number of films she has done and the kind of impact she had made with DDLJ. The bubbly icon we use to call her. But I had to go on sets forgetting all that and be professional. In many ways we collaborate and we just see how immensely powerful she is as an actress and doing scenes with her worked some kind of a magic and I am really excited for the audiences to see what comes out soon.
