It's Konkana, Like ‘King Kong-Konkana

Actor Konkona Sen Sharma celebrates Bazaar India’s 13th anniversary with a conversation on empowerment, emancipation, and self-acceptance.

- Radhika Bhalla

Many years before OTT shows became advocates for exposing darker truths, a young actor named Konkona Sensharma entered Indian cinema with roles that evoked new discourses. In the feature Mr. and Mrs. Iyer [2002], directed by her mother Aparna Sen, her character unravelled the prejudices of religion and casteism in the country...a role for which she received the honour of Top 80 Iconic Performances. And in Page 3 [2005], her role as the young journalist who tries to lay bare the underbelly of the rich, famous, and corrupt prophesied the work of many brave reporters who risk all to create change. Some call it idealism, but for Konkona, it is the commitment to inner-truth that drives her decisions, and her life.

It’s the road less-taken, but Konkona has never been afraid of being labelled ‘different’. “Ever since I was young, I was quite comfortable with not fitting in. And that’s mainly because of my parents, who ensured I had a very unconventional, liberal upbringing,” she tells Bazaar India. “In fact, I am slightly suspicious when everything is uniform; it becomes almost claustrophobic.”