Konkona Sen Sharma on her role in short film 'Chashma': ‘Moms are often shown as one-dimensional’

Konkona Sen Sharma, who has been hunting for complex mother roles ever since she became a parent, says short film Chashma delves into character’s intricacies despite its time constraint

When Konkona Sen Sharma praises a script, it’s not to be taken lightly. After all, she judges it not only as an actor, but also as the sharp director she has evolved into. So, when she mentions that Chashma’s script gave her “goosebumps”, that’s tall praise for Nitin Baid’s directorial venture. “As soon as I read it, I told Nitin, ‘I am doing it’. One reason is that the script is so well-written structurally. The second reason is that its themes resonated with me,” says the actor.

Chashma, which is slated to première at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, tells the story of 11-year-old Supriyo with impaired vision, who faces more than his physical challenges when a school conflict compels him to make a tough choice. Sensharma plays his mother in the short film that is set in 1992. In an industry where fleshed-out characters are rare for women, the actor credits Baid and writer Varun Grover for giving her a meaty role. “Ever since I became a mom, I’ve been looking for interesting mother characters. Mothers are often shown in a one-dimensional way in films. Here, we got a sense of this person—not only through her identity of a mother, but also as a woman.” 

Director Nitin Baid with the actor

As Baid and Grover built a strong single mother on paper, she turned to her childhood to bring the character alive on celluloid. “My parents got divorced when I was young. [So, this role] immediately spoke to me. This woman was not villainised. By the way she behaves [with the child], you get to know how much she is involved and that it has been a difficult separation. There is so much information about her in such a small script. Sometimes, even in a full-length feature, you don’t get the depth and complexity.”

Sensharma views herself as a director’s actor and considers it important to bond with the filmmaker. Getting to know Baid—who served as an editor of Gully Boy (2019) and Masaan (2015)—then was sheer pleasure. “The first time we met in my house, we spoke about his childhood. We both grew up in Kolkata of the ’80s and ’90s. I was imagining that era of Kolkata, and that grounded our bond.”

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