Actress Ragini Khanna tells Sakshi Sharma that her role in Posham Pa made her inhabit a scary headspace which grossed her out and intrigued her in equal measure
Imagine yourself in a situation where your mother forces you to become a murderer and you can only survive by hunting food like animals and eating it from dustbins.
When Sasural Genda Phool fame Ragini Khanna heard the script of her short film, Posham Pa, it fired a million questions in her head and caught her attention like nothing else had before. She knew that it was going to be one of her most challenging roles but was sure of doing it as she wanted the audience to see her in characters with different shades and break her established image of a happy bubbly girl next door.
When asked as to what appealed her the most? She said, “The script. As I read it, it generated a lot of emotions in me which I can’t even express in words. I was grossed, I was intrigued, I was curious that how can something so dark be true?”
Posham Pa is a psychological thriller inspired by true events. It talks about a disturbed mother who forces her daughter to be a part of heinous crimes and murders which in turn leads them to be charged with death penalty. The film, naturally, forces one to think.
Ragini feels that the film plunges you into such depths that you start questioning everything. She was impressed by simplistic storytelling which sends a deep message. Ragini said, “I always wanted to work with Sumon Mukhopadhyay Sir (director). He has done films that have redefined various conventions. In this film, it is pure and honest story telling. The truth is kept intact and very little is left to imagination. The way he has retained the authenticity of characters was on point.” The actress is happy with the creative liberty the film offered. She shared that during the shoots everyone was on the same page in terms of creativity and there was a smooth exchange of ideas. You subconsciously unite when your cause is bigger and you have a similar motive, the universe just conspires to bring you together. “That’s what happened with this film, we shared an unsaid bonding which was magical. This translated on camera beautifully as it sensitive and catches your aura and energy,” she added. This helps the film to connect closely to the audience and impact deeply,” she explained.
Talking about her character in the film, Shikha Deshpande, Ragini shared, “My journey is from an infant to a 30-32 year old. I have played a street child who is raised with no sense of societal boundaries. She is raised like an animal at the cost of her relationships and is willing to go to any extent for her survival.” She questioned, “How can someone have an animalistic motivation towards their choices? It is extremely scary.” But, the other side of Shikha is that she is an extremely intelligent girl with a brilliant mind. If she had been raised as a child and not animal, things would have been different. It’s all about how you nurture. Ragini shared that the writers wanted to point out the concept of nature versus nurture. Giving birth to a child is very different from raising him/her. The former is a natural process but the latter is a life long commitment. Upbringing and education empowers you as it gives you a sense of right and wrong.
The dark role that the film offered made it challenging for the actor to get into the skin of the character. Ragini said, “While playing this role I developed an unsaid bonding with Shikha. In the process of trying to understand what she has gone through I experienced immense pain as it was difficult for me to analyse my own behaviour. Half the time I was shocked by my own acts. I had mood swings, I used to laugh and cry on the set without reason.” She talked about a scene of the film where she says, ‘Maine kachre ki peti mei se khaana nikaal ke khaaya,’ which involved a lot of self-pity. She also tried to justify herself that ‘I am so because of what I am going through and not by choice.’ Ragini further shared that the role made her inhabit a scary headspace and she wanted to let go of this character very soon as it was troubling her. “When I was traveling for the shoot on the second day, I felt Shikha in my skin. I was so grossed by that because I am raised on a moral conditioning which doesn’t belong to the value structure Shikha comes from,” she added.
In recent times we have seen that more and more films are inspired by true events. Ragini’s last one, Gurgaon, was also one such. She said, “We live in a fast moving world where something is always happening somewhere. This is enhancing real story telling. However, there are also stories which the human mind has not experienced and are a fragment of the directors’ imagination.”
Short films have a very limited time frame to leave the audience with thought-provoking ideas but they are still gaining attention in today’s scenario. “They require a low attention span as it is only asking for 20 minutes from you. A three-hour film or series is a long commitment while short films are quick,” said she. This digital era has paved the way for newer platforms and opportunities. Ragini feels that it is giving her the opportunity to play negative roles which she is not sure would have been possible in television. It as a blessing for her as she feels it provides her the chance to explore herself as an artist. She also emphasised on the responsibility attached to digital content in the past three to four years. Ragini said, “There is a lot of good work happening. We are directly competing with the international content.” With this increasing competition the content is getting better and everything with higher accessibility.
Talking about her journey she shared that her mind has expanded with it she has led and the people she has been with. “The more I get enriched with life’s experiences, the better my art will be. It will have far more depth and intensity. But at the same time I don’t want to lose my unabashed rawness and candidness,” she added.
(The film is streaming on Zee5.)