Deciding about when and how to shift between the different languages also got Roshan thinking about the politics in the usage of it. “There are a lot of questions I ruminated on like when does one shift to a language that the third person in the room doesn’t understand, why someone wants to keep a certain discussion private, when would someone use language to intimidate and more. All these questions came up when I was working on this film. And this is an exciting territory.”
Having known each other for several years, through theatre and cinema, Darshana and Roshan have seen each other improve with each film over the years. There are a lot of times when they double up as acting coaches too. Speaking about helping each other out as friends and co-actors, Darshana says, “Sometimes, I’ll know that there’s something wrong in a shot but he’ll want me to find it. He’ll not point it out.” It would be horrible when a co-actor is directing and I hate it, Roshan adds. He continues, “I’m also an actor. So naturally, when I’m seeing a scene being shot, some part of my brain is thinking how I’ll approach the scene. So, I shouldn’t impose my ideas. It should go through the director. And, it’s out of respect for your co-actors.”
Even when they have done plays together that Roshan has directed, he gave the actors the time to figure things out on their own and ensured any input goes only through the director, Darshana notes. “When you see something is wrong, it’s easy to say that you know the solution to the problem. But maybe, your help is not required there and you’re creating more trouble. You’ve to let the actor figure it out. This is something I’ve seen him do and have learnt from it.” Roshan adds, “This is something I’ve learnt from the directors who’re very protective of their actors.”
