‘I am a greedy actor’ | Interview with Manisha Koirala, star of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s web-series Heeramandi, releasing May 1

Manisha Koirala discusses her career, method acting, and future ambitions in Bollywood with candour and warmth.

Manisha Koirala claims she is a slouch on any ordinary day. “I can’t sit upright!” she chuckles. On the other end of the Zoom call, the 53-year-old actor appears relaxed, her hair tied back in a lazy bun, her eyes filled with warm candour behind her oversized spectacles. It is in stark contrast to Mallikajaan, the head of a glamorous house of courtesans in pre-Independence India, the character Koirala portrays in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ambitious project Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. The web series, releasing on Netflix on May 1, is her second collaboration with the filmmaker after the iconic Khamoshi: The Musical (1996).

One of the biggest Indian movie stars in the 90s, Koirala has essayed several unforgettable characters in films like 1942: A Love Story (1994), Bombay (1995), and Dil Se.. (1998). After a tumultuous battle with cancer and a slew of personal issues, she slowed down in the last decade, appearing in only a handful of films, yet not failing to surprise the audience, as she did with Dibakar Banerjee’s superb short film in the anthology, Lust Stories (2018). “I want to go beyond what I typically get,” says Koirala of her ambition as an actor. Edited excerpts:

When I was younger and working in song-and-dance movies, portraying the typical Bollywood heroine, I could rely on my instincts and go with the flow. If a film required me to rehearse, I did that. For Khamoshi, I spent a couple of months learning sign language. Now, I am in that stage where I feel method acting works for me. I want to be mentally, emotionally and physically well-prepared for a role. Since I do not take up many projects now, I have the time to do that.

Mallikajaan, my character, speaks chaste Urdu, and she has long and elaborate dialogues. So my first concern was how to get control over the language. Upon my request, Munira ji, a scholar who has studied and researched the Tawaif culture, came on board as a diction coach. She explained to me that these courtesans were not sex workers but the epitome of grace, manners and culture. They were gifted singers and dancers.

I realised I could not be Manisha Koirala for one bit — I am lazy and tomboyish, and care two hoots about body posture. My whole demeanour had to be different. So I took inspiration from my grandmother, a Bharatanatyam dancer, and my mother, a Kathak dancer. Growing up in Varanasi, I have seen many classical dancers and musicians. To become Mallikajaan, I remembered and collected all these details. I developed an emotional, mental and physical language. Sanjay and his team had already created her external world through extensive research. As an artist, I just had to follow his lead and fit into that world. Sometimes, he would correct me, “You are not Gayatri Devi, you are the head of the Kotha!” pointing out that I was being too feminine.

I love difficult. I am a greedy actor. I want to go beyond what I typically get. I follow world cinema, and when I see a great performance, I think ‘Oh, I want to do that’. In my 20s, I watched one of my first Broadway shows — Miss Saigon. I was in awe of that central performance. I love Meryl Streep in so many films. I love films of Wong Kar-wai and Almodovar — In The Mood For Love and Women On The Verge of A Nervous Breakdown, respectively.

Sanjay is a filmmaker who has such a splendid career arc. We did Khamoshi, a beautiful, simple and yet profound film. Two years ago, CODA, a European film that narrated the same story — the one he wrote 28 years ago — won at the Oscars. His characters are so complex and layered. They undergo conflicting emotions, neither black nor white.