'The Mirror' Of Pleasure

In an exclusive chat with Bazaar India, Konkona Sen Sharma speaks about depicting women in the right light in cinema, her inspiration, and more.

- ADIT GANGULY

Donning the director’s hat after seven long years, actor Konkona Sen Sharma showed the world a different side of desire in The Mirror, one of the four short films from Lust Stories 2. Over the course of her career, Konkona has delivered performances that range from the morally upright, and ‘perfect’ to characters who are “real, flawed and going through transition”. It was, thus, no surprise to see how perfectly imperfect her characters are. The actor got behind the camera to co-write and direct The Mirror. It was the intriguing tale of desire and pleasure, and of feeling seen, illustrated in the short that made us realise just how much Konkona loves to narrate an untold story. And we’re all for it!

Harper’s Bazaar: What was the inspiration behind your short—The Mirror—in Lust Stories 2?

Konkona Sen Sharma: “I didn’t have a story in mind when Netflix approached me. One day over dinner, a friend told me how she discovered her maid was having sex in her bedroom, and how she freaked out and fired her eventually. That’s when I instantly realised I wanted to make a film on it.”

HB: Was the message of the movie—lust and the pleasure of being seen—intentional?