Mumbai, May 29: Actress Rasika Dugal, who recently appeared in the short film titled ‘Miniaturist of Junagadh’, says as a performer she tends to get emotionally attached to most of the characters that she plays.
She adds she has learned the best acting lessons from veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah.
The story of ‘Miniaturist of Junagadh’ is set in the era of the partition of India where a Muslim family of a miniature artist was forced to leave their ancestral house in Junagadh for Karachi and how they go through an emotional journey with the hope that one day, they will come back.
Asked about as an artiste if she too, gets attached to any characters she plays on-screen and Rasika told IANS: “Yes, I tend to get emotionally attached to characters that I embody for my performance; because the journey happens from words to screen, from moulding my mind to feel the character and then the magic between action and cut! Otherwise also I am an emotional person, so I feel a sense of void when the shooting gets over when I leave the character forever.
“She went on adding, “In fact, there is a joke in the family and especially with my husband, who actually gets prepared to welcome me home when I wrap a shoot. He knows that for that day, I will be constantly missing the character and the space where we shot. It is like, a part of me lived through those moments.”
The short film ‘Miniaturist of Junagadh’ also features Raj Arjun and Padmavati Rao, along with Naseeruddin Shah.While in the film, she and Shah play father-daughter, the actress shares her experience of working with the legend.
“One of the reasons I did the film was that it was a series of reunions with my teacher and fellow FTII friends. I worked with our director and DOP (Kaushal Oza and Kumar Saurabh, respectively) for their final year student project, I acted in that short film. I knew in the future they will become great professionals.”
“On the other hand, Naseer sir was one of the guest lecturers in FTII and I attended his class. I think I have learned the best lesson from him that I have carried in my last 12 years of journey. I had to do this film to reunite with him! There are a few silent heartwarming moments between them, those are beautiful!” smiled Rasika.
The short film ‘Miniaturist of Junagadh’ is available on the official YouTube channel of Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films.
