The elementary charm of Irawati

Rasika Dugal

She has a wicked sense of humour, but her roles are usually sombre and distinct from one another. In her latest outing, Shekhar Home, Rasika Dugal steps into the character of Irene Adler, Adler, a key figure whose origin lies in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved Sherlock Holmes. Since childhood, the actor has enjoyed reading Doyle's books and watching various versions of the detective series. "I used to enjoy the Jeremy Brett version of Sherlock Holmes, which used to come on Doordarshan every Sunday. Then there is the Benedict Cumberbatch version of Sherlock, which is different from everything else, which I enjoyed watching too," she says, reflecting on her childhood fascination with shows like Karamchand and Sherlock. This passion made her decision to join Shekhar Home an easy one. "It's kind of a no-brainer, honestly," she says, emphasising her eagerness to delve into a genre she has long admired.

While comparisons are inevitable, Dugal's curiosity was piqued by the character. "The scripts were so different that it's hard to make a comparison. But I enjoyed the quality of the mystery and the playfulness between Shekhar and Irawati, where there is a hint of romance and clash. I thought it would be interesting to play the only character who is silently acknowledged by Shekhar," she says. Dugal adds that she has shared the screen with many talented co-actors throughout her career. The only exceptions were Kay Kay Menon and Manoj Bajpayee. "When I heard Kay Kay was playing Shekhar, it was another big reason for me to do this show. Everybody has their own style. With his experience, he can see trouble 20 steps ahead. I would experiment and then figure out, but he knows what he wants before having to try different options."

The character of Irawati, in the JioCinema series, presented Dugal with a unique challenge, which she approached with a keen understanding of the role's subtleties. She believed that Irawati's presence needed to be carefully measured to maintain her enigmatic allure. "[The makers] wanted to put me in more scenes in the fourth episode. I had a conversation with the director and producer and told them that Irawati has to appear only sparingly; otherwise, it doesn't work," Dugal explains. This insight even led her to suggest cutting some of her scenes in the fourth episode to preserve Irawati's mystery. "I felt like that was for good reason," she notes.