When I read the script…I was bowled over, Karishma Tanna On her role in Scoop

Karishma  Tanna Who Plays Incarcerated  Murder-Accused  Journalist Jigna Vora  In Hansal Mehta’s Stunning New Webseries  Scoop, to stream On Netflix  from 2 June, Speaks To Subhash K Jha

Your performance in Scoop is  going to be a  game-changer  for you…Did you meet the real Jigna Vora?

I didn’t meet Jigna until the  end  of  our schedules. Hansal Sir was very clear that he wanted to keep my interpretation of the  character as open as possible. Because  it was inspired by  Jigna’s book(Behind Bars In Byculla: My Days In Prison) Hansal Sir didn’t want me  to  copy her   characteristics. He wanted me to interpret  the  character  in my own way.

What was your first reaction when you were offered the role?

When I  read the script…I was bowled over. Each  character was written in detail. After reading the script  I was allowed to colour the  character’s graph  in my  own way. Yes, I was given that liberty to  emote the way I wanted to.

Hansal gives a  lot of  room for actors to improvise?

Yes , that makes the actors comfortable.Otherwise if the director gives  very close instructions, the performance looks stiff.

You couldn’t have  come out unscathed  from playing this character?

I didn’t! When I read  about the case online, I was deeply affected. She(Jigna) was in  jail  for nine months. It  was very heartbreaking to  know  about what she went through. She had  a 9-year old son and she was in jail for a crime she had not committed. I  did a  lot of research and  of course Sir (Hansal) did a  lot of research.  But we  have dramatized  the real events a bit..

That is  bound to happen?

Yes, this girl has  a lot of  layers.

This journalist was a quite  a go-getter and she crossed the line?

Yes, if you are a go-getter in your profession, your motivations  can be misconstrued,  as  it  was  with Jigna. If this is the price  she had to pay, what can one say?

As  an actor  how  much did you relate with  your  character’s ambitions?

(laughs) I too am ambitious, a go-getter and passionate  about my work. But I am not crazily  ambitious  , like  Jigna  was. I know  where to draw the line.I was never desperate  for work. I was happy with whatever work God gave me.Whatever is written  in my destiny is bound to happen. I know I will  finally get what I deserve.

Well, your time starts now  after Scoop?

Thank you!

Did the trauma of your character affect you?

When I was on the set I was totally into character. Hats off to the art director  for making the jail look so real. And all the  actors who played jail inmates actually looked like inmates.  The jail personnel who  strips  me is actually Rasika Agashe. She is the wife  of  Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub who plays my newspaper editor. We shot  this sequence  first in my prison experience.So I already felt vulnerable.I was wondering why my character  was being frisked and humiliated when she had done nothing wrong.

I have never seen Zeeshan play such an urban sophisticated   character  before?

Neither have I! I loved  teasing  Zeeshan on  the sets. He  is  such an introvert. I  loved provoking  him out  of his shell.  I share a beautiful relationship with Zeeshan and Harman Baweja. Harman and  I know one  another for ages. Whether  it is Zeeshan  or any other character Hansal saw things that other directors can’t. How else did he  see me  playing this character?I  heard that  a lot  of  actresses wanted my role.  But Hansal Sir stood by me. He was asked, why Karishma? He said he saw  the same hunger in my audition that Jigna Vora had.He felt I needed to prove  my worth  just  like Jigna did.

Your networking skills are very inept?

Ha ha, I  stopped going to parties and awards functions just for the  heck of it. I am not made  that way. I  was never desperate to get noticed.