Konkona Sen Sharma’s mother Aparna Sen never allowed her to watch Ramayan and Mahabharat on TV: ‘She insisted that…’

“I wasn’t allowed to watch Ramayan and Mahabharat either. She insisted that I read the epics first (before delving into the serialised versions). She said that the first exposure to these epics should not be someone else’s imagination; it should be a product of your own imagination. As a substitute, we explored a lot of global and regional cinema. Even when it came to books, during a phase of my childhood when I was exclusively reading Indian literature, she eventually stopped me and asked me to move on. And I was an obedient child,” Konkona added.

She said that her mother’s intervention might have helped her to a certain extent to expand her worldview and horizons and be open to different kinds of narratives and art forms.

Konkona also mentioned that, while she was growing up, her mother treated her as she would an adult. “I was just a kid. Even then, the way she conducted her life and brought me up… I was always given a certain space and agency of my own. So that, I think, helped me a lot.”

Following her appearance in the 2023 Hindi action thriller Kuttey, Konkona is currently gearing up for the premiere of the Netflix dark comedy series Soup, in which she will star alongside Manoj Bajpayee. Her most recent directorial venture was the segment titled The Mirror, in the anthology film Lust Stories 2.

Aparna Sen’s recent directorial venture, The Rapist, starring Konkona and Arjun Rampal in the lead roles, had garnered exceptional reviews upon its premiere at the 26th Busan International Film Festival.