Rasika Dugal: My character is neither a bechari nor a bitch

Rasika Dugal

Rasika Dugal, who has been on a golden run with her last few outings, most notably in Mirzapur 2, is ready to do the heavy-lifting in the second season of Out of Love. If the first edition dealt with infidelity and heartbreak, including a wonderfully executed dinner-table scene in the season finale, the upcoming instalment will deep-dive into the anger and resentment that follow the crumbling of a marriage. As Purab Kohli reprises his role as the manipulative Akarsh who returns to Coonoor, Dugal's Dr Meera Kapoor is a changed woman who will go to any lengths to shield herself from getting hurt all over

When we get on a call with the actor, we begin by asking her how she approached Meera this time around. "I find second seasons more interesting. I had the opportunity to reimagine a character I thought I knew well. That's the beauty of life - sometimes, a change is triggered [in us] by people's surprising actions. Additionally, the rigour of being in a show where you are present in almost every frame over five episodes is enjoyable. I wanted to see if I can be interesting to an audience despite being present in every sequence," she says.

Dugal and Kabir in Out of Love 2

Meera, though quiet and reserved, has been etched out as a woman with great emotional strength and resilience. For Dugal, it has been a journey of discovery to navigate the aftermath of a toxic marriage through her character. "She decided to stay back in a place where everyone around has disappointed her. For her, staying back was a sense of victory over Akarsh. This season starts off with her in a healthy space - as a great single mother and a respected doctor. But with her estranged spouse resurfacing, old wounds are reopened. Though she has moved on, she realises there were a lot of elements that needed closure."

The Disney+Hotstar offering will indulge in a fair amount of mind games as the former spouses do "irrational, erratic and ugly things". How does one play the character without their own sense of judgment prevailing? "[An actor] has to accept how [her character's] rage has changed her. A character will never look like a vamp or a victim if the actor playing it doesn't believe that. I don't judge the characters I play, and I try to bring in my sensitivity to understand her way of being. It wasn't difficult for me to understand what Meera and Akarsh are going through individually. I see Meera neither as a bechari nor a bitch. She is maintaining her self-respect."

Besides the creative lure of the story, the actor sheepishly admits that the hills of Coonoor were an important factor in her decision to do the series. "I am in love with that place. People never [acknowledge] that the location makes a huge difference in enhancing your work as an artiste. Every frame of that town is filled with beauty. Every time I return after shooting a season of Out of Love, I have withdrawal symptoms."