The new crime drama Bambai Meri Jaan, streaming on Prime Video, takes a fictionalised look at the rise of the Mumbai mafia. Partly based on Hussain Zaidi’s Dongri to Dubai, the show stars Avinash Tiwari as Dara, a gangster and Kay Kay Menon as his retired cop father. Caught in between their tussle is their family, including Dara’s sister Habiba, played by Kritika Kamra. The actress speaks to DNA about her most ‘badass’ role so far and why such parts are so few in this genre.
Kritika says taking on the role was ‘exciting and challenging in equal parts’. Habiba, her character, is her antithesis, confident, bold in a way that she has never been. “Just to be able to audition for it and read it was exciting because it’s so different from everything that I have done before. Even generally, I don’t think such parts come by often for women particularly. In this male-dominated crime space, to play a powerful woman who is not ethically good is not common. That was exciting,” says the actress.
She makes a valid point about there not being enough confident women in this genre of storytelling, but Kritika says there is a reason for that. She explains, “I have been part of an all-women-led show for Prime Video in Hush Hush. I have done other shows where there have been mostly women. So, it’s happening and it’s definitely much better than what it was. But then content is a reflection of the society and the world of you are living in. So it is a true representation of what that world is like. There aren’t too many women in crime even in real. You can’t write the characters just for the sake of it. We need to be authentic to that time instead of just ticking boxes for inclusivity.”
Bambai Meri Jaan, created by Rensil D’Silva and Shujaat Saudagar, and directed by Saudagar, began streaming on Prime Video from September 14.
