DNA Exclusive! 'Mirzapur 2': Rasika Dugal talks about Beena's sensuality, playing men like she wants to
While revealing that Beena will go on to play a major role in season 2, Rasika Dugal spoke about how her character, after getting her 'Beenaness' back at some point in season 2, will play the men like she wants to and get everything that she wishes for done.
With Mirzapur season 2 just days away, the anticipation and expectation among the audiences are sky-high. And while the concluding episode of 'Mirzapur' ended in a cliffhanger, viewers can't seem to wait to watch what happens next to the characters of Ali Fazal, Diyendu Sharma, Shweta Tripathi and Rasika Dugal in particular.
And while we talk about Rasika's character in season 1, it wouldn't be wrong to say that while she has a powerful on-screen presence and her acting chops are superlative as Beena, it is the character's overall sensuality, boldness, unabashed and an unintentionally magnetic appeal that made way for Rasika to stand out in the series irrespective of the fact that 'Mirzapur' had some fabulous performances by male artistes like Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Vikrant Massey and veteran actor Kulbhushan Kharbanda.
So, to talk more about Beena and her character graph in the upcoming season of the much-loved and talked about web series 'Mirzapur', we at DNA spoke to Rasika Dugal and got an exclusive peek into what Beena will look like and what can be expected of her character in 'Mirzapur 2'.
"Because of the way season 1 ended, where Beena felt she was humiliated and violated, season 2 begins with her trying to come to terms with that and find her 'Beenaness' again," said Rasika in an exclusive chat with DNA.
She continued, "This time because of the added feeling of being violated, of the feeling of living in the same house as her tormentors, Beena will have another layer."
While revealing that Beena will go on to play a major role in season 2, Rasika spoke about how her character, after getting her 'Beenaness' back at some point in season 2, will play the men like she wants to and get everything that she wishes for done.
"She will do many things that are deviant, which could possibly be described by people as immoral but you will see a side of her that I enjoyed a lot, the side who knows exactly what she wants and knows what is somebody's strength and flaws."
Rasika quipped, "Beena knows how to play the men while making them believe that they are taking decision for themselves." She added, "At some point in season 2 you will see her get her 'Beenaness' back and use it to get what she wants."
On being asked about the butcher's knife that she is seen holding in the fresh posters released by 'Mirzapur 2' makers, Rasika said, "Beena's methods are more primitive than anyone else" while adding that she can't reveal if she is killing or hurting someone in season 2.
Shedding some light on Beena and Akhandanand Tripathi (Pankaj Tripathi) aka Kaleena Bhaiya's relationship, Rasika told DNA, "Beena always feels she has power over him and doesn't perceive him as a threat like Bauji. She knows that the one person she can easily manipulate is Akhanda. She has understood that dismissing him is the way to keep him interested and to make him treat her with respect."
On being asked if Beena is afraid that Kaleen Bhaiya will find out about her and Bauji's forced relation, Rasika said with confidence, "Beena is not afraid of anything. She's immoral as some might describe her, and while she will be that bahu (daughter-in-law) who will give a foot massage to Bauji on the surface, but she will do the things she wants to do. I don't think Beena is afraid of Kaleen finding out about his father and her relation."
She added, "Beena is not Akhanda's 'Achilles' heel' but his soft spot and the way Pankaj has chosen to play Akhanda is really cute. Akhanka is this really soft person when he is in front of Beena and unsure around her because that is exactly how she makes him feel."
Elaborating on how Beena uses her physicality throughout the series and on being asked about the one aspect of her own character that she personally likes, Rasika while revealing that in real life she is either too shy or awkward, admitting that her physicality is a little clumsy, told DNA, that it was Beena's overall sensuality that she liked the most, adding that it was also something she was unsure she could pull off since in real life she is quite the contrast to her character on-screen.
"Her physicality. I think she has a very easy sensuality which I find attractive in people. There is something magnetic about that if she walks into a room, everybody will look at her not because she is doing anything special or saying anything special, not because of the way she is dressed and definitely not because she is drop-dead gorgeous but because there's something magnetic about her," Rasika said.
Rasika added that she has lived vicariously through Beena since she has had to do lots of things she had never done in real life.
Towards the end of the interaction, on being asked which character other than her own did she like in Mirzapur and why, Rasika said, "I'd love to play Munna from season 1."
While Rasika gave several reasons for it, she lauded Divyendu Sharma for pulling off a dark character like that and still managing to impress viewers with his performance.
Rasika said, "I would like to play Munna because he is so erratic and dysfunctional and yet there is this one innocent child who is deprived. I think that is an interesting duality to live with. There is this son who wants to impress his father and that's all he wants. He wants to be able to do that and that's probably because of not having enough attention as a child (might be), that is why Munna is so attached to the people around him. He has gang, he needs people to constantly remind him that he is worth it but at the same time, he puts on this great act of being a don's son who can be a don."
"I think it's a very interesting thing to play for an actor and I think Divyendu did a fantastic job" Rasika concluded.