Exclusive | Manjiri Pupala on playing a Catholic Dalit in Dhadak 2: 'It amused me to have that kind of representation'

Manjiri Pupala

Manjiri Pupala, fresh from her path-breaking role in Superboys of Malegaon, continues to shine with her unmistakable charisma. The actress's performance in Dhadak 2 is a significant step forward. While the film delves deeply into themes of caste, identity, and forbidden love, Manjiri's portrayal of Richa, 'a well-researched and rooted role' has left an indelible impression. In an exclusive chat with mid-day, Manjiri details on her former experiences, the character, and more.

As the film is set with a backdrop of casteism, Manjiri details on how the experience of shooting with women directors have been, she further shared on the dedication that each artist showcased while shooting, "It was more real than what I had imagined it to be. And the scale was mesmerizing, of course. But along with that, I think my director, Shazia Iqbal, managed to keep the sensitivities of our so-called independent cinema holds. And the kind of sincerity, another popular cinema is not sincere, but you know what I mean, right? She has managed to keep the preparation and the sensitivities, and the approach that an independent cinema will have in a setup and the scale of a popular cinema. So it wasn't like any other commercial cinema or the kind of page three stories that you hear. But it was an amalgamation of these two things. It was really special to be part of something so meaningful and so straight from the heart. And the entire set felt the urgency and the importance of telling the story. You know, otherwise, a lot of times what happens is on a big scale set, you know, that certain departments like acting or writing are creatively so involved. But when you look at the other departments, they are just doing their job. In terms of Dhadak 2, on our set, every single person of the crew was equally involved in the earnestness of the story, which was the most special thing. "

Gives a peek into her childhood

Manjiri gave a peek into her personal life experiences around casteism, as she shared about her household and the environment she grew up in, "My father was a socialist and a social worker, along with being an art director. So growing up, we always had, I don't remember a single weekend where we would not have these social workers and the activists and the journalists coming to our house and having discussions. And all those discussions actually shaped up my childhood."

Dalit Literature in India is extremely rich, however, merely explored. With a film like Dhadak 2, Manjiri took an opportunity to dive into it, "So these stories of suppression or the backdrop of, say, Dalit literature, and I still remember the faces of those journalists and those writers who would come home and talk about why they write and what they write. And if you really look at it, the soul of the film is what? Ladna Zaroori Hai is what the film stands for. And in today's time, I feel that's fine. We have lost as a society. And we are warped between WhatsApp theories, which we receive on WhatsApp. And it's not about your point of view against mine. We have lost as a society. And we are warped between WhatsApp theories, which we receive on WhatsApp. And it's not about your point of view against mine."

On her character Richa Wilson

She further shared, "It's about your theory against my theory. So the idea of authenticity is kind of getting lost, I feel. And the idea of why we need to fight. So a story like Dhadak 2 is required because of that, you know, the urge or the call out to stand for something that you believe in. Like, you know, Nilesh's father at some point of time says, Tu kiske liye ladda raha hai? So I feel that urge is what I tapped into while playing this character. And my character is Richa Wilson."

A character with layers deep rooted, Manjiri gave an overview of Richa, "She's a Catholic Dalit. The representation of a Catholic Dalit or any other religion and belonging to that class is something unheard of in a popular setup. So it amused me to have that kind of representation in a popular commercial cinema and to take that particular risk and that particular effort of detailing, for that matter. Also, this was the first time that I had like a book to refer to. There's a book called Ants Among the Elephants by Sujata Girla. And, you know, Shazia offered that book to me just to have a reference of a female perspective going through the casteism and the oppression that we are speaking about. Also, my character is not the one who is actually part of the original film. So this character was written, Shekhar and Richa's character was written specifically for a particular effect, to create the effect of that entire politics in a way. And Shekhar is like the extreme activist and Richa is someone who balances this for him. So she's someone who makes sense of the world for him, you know. She is the ray of hope for him in a way."