Rasika Dugal is on a roll. After reprising her role of the manipulative Beena Tripathi in Season 3 of Mirzapur, Rasika can now be seen as the mysterious Iraboty in Shekhar Home. The series, on JioCinema, has Kay Kay Menon as the titular character and is loosely based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. A t2 chat with Rasika on Iraboty, jhalmuri, Kay Kay and more.

What about Shekhar Home appealed to you?

I hadn’t done anything in the detective genre before, and that was a major reason for me to sign this. The other box that I had been wanting to tick for a long time was working with Kay Kay (Menon). In my career so far, I have worked with many good actors who are his peers — like Irrfan, Nawaz (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), Pankaj (Tripathi), Adil (Hussain), Neeraj Kabi — and Kay Kay and Manoj Bajpayee were the only ones pending on that list. I still have to check my box with Manoj but with Shekhar Home, I got an opportunity to work with Kay Kay.

I was also excited by the fact that the fictional town of Lonpur was set in West Bengal and that it would give me an opportunity to visit Santiniketan, in and around which Shekhar Home was shot. I grew up in Jamshedpur and I had heard so much about Santiniketan. People would always speak about it as an artistic hub and a place where there is a lot of peace and quiet, a space which encourages creativity. I was quite taken in by these stories but funnily enough, I never had an opportunity to visit Santiniketan despite it being so close to the place where I grew up.

I am also very fond of Bengali food and I went on a Bengali thali hunt every time we had time off from shoot.

So did Santiniketan live up to your expectations?

In some ways it did. But we also ended up shooting during a heat wave, which was last year in April, and, at that time, we were not focusing on appreciating but just about surviving, to be honest (laughs). It was quite crazy to be shooting in that madness and I remember having several conversations with Kay Kay that I wish the show had been shot during the winter months. It would have been so much more beautiful and we would have all been able to enjoy Santiniketan more.

What spurred your interest in the detective genre?

I have been intrigued by it, for sure. It has never been my favourite genre, but it has always been one that I have enjoyed. I enjoyed Sonar Kella a lot, I thought it was a very, very beautiful film. I have enjoyed watching different versions of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories all through childhood and recently the series with Benedict Cumberbatch, which is one of my favourite versions of Sherlock Holmes. It is so well done and so beautifully performed.

It is interesting how everybody interprets their main detective character and how they make the relationships with the people around them. In Shekhar’s case, for example, it is Jayvrat (played by Ranvir Shorey) and Iraboty (Rasika’s character) who do that and to see his relationship with them while watching Kay Kay explore the quirks of his character was just so much fun.

What is it about Iraboty that intrigued you? Your ‘moja hobe’ in the trailer was spot-on in terms of diction and accent...

Did I do it right?! I was so scared! I must have practised that 200 times before going on set because in my head, I was like: ‘Don’t mess with the Bengali!’

Did you pick up the language while in Jamshedpur?

I did, but I have lost touch. Growing up in Jamshedpur I used to be very active during Durga Puja. My friends and I would perform at the pandal and sing Rabindrasangeet.

Many years later, somebody wanted me to do a Bengali film and they called me for an audition and asked me if I could speak in Bangla. I told them I didn’t remember much of the language but I could sing a Bangla song. I don’t know what came over me that time but I felt I should sing Rabindrasangeet in front of two Bengalis, who were just horrified by my version of it! (Laughs) Safe to say I didn’t land the film!

As far as Iraboty is concerned, it is interesting to play characters that have an aura. That kind of person most often will have intelligence, charisma and charm. That is totally Iraboty’s thing. She is not manipulative like Beena Tripathi (Rasika’s character in Mirzapur). There is a sense of mystery about Iraboty. There is poise, grace and sophistication and she is perhaps the only one in the show who can match Shekhar’s bandwidth.

What were your biggest takeaways from observing Kay Kay at work?

It is always intriguing to work with actors who have the body of work and the kind of experience that Kay Kay has because they know how to make every moment work. I am the kind of actor who has several options of how to do a scene and I am always keen to present all of them to the director, try them out and then come to a conclusion of which one is the best.

But Kay Kay, with his many years of experience, would have already worked out the options in his head and he then presents the best one during the shot. In contrast, it takes me several hours to arrive at what I think would work for a scene. As an actor, Kay Kay really knows how to make a moment out of almost every scene.

What was it like being directed by Srijit Mukherji?

I had almost done a film with Srijit a couple of years ago but because of date issues, it didn’t work out....

I hope he wasn’t the one you sang the Rabindrasangeet to....

(Laughs) No, no! Then I don’t think I would have landed Shekhar Home. I never heard from those filmmakers again, I am sure they needed a palate cleanser after my attempt at Rabindrasangeet!

I had watched some of Srijit’s work and I was curious about him as a director. He had also watched some of my work and was curious about me as an actor. We had been trying to work with each other for a while and finally it happened with this project.

You mentioned hunting for Bengali food while shooting this series. Did you discover anything new that you hadn’t tried in the past?

Well, I ate from a lot of places while shooting there and the same dish would sometimes taste different depending on which restaurant it came from. There were some things I liked and some that I didn’t fancy too much. But if I am in Bengal and I am not eating in my free time, then it is a waste of time and opportunity, right? (Laughs) I made sure I didn’t let that happen.

I grew up eating a lot of jhalmuri. Bhelpuri came much later, jhalmuri was the main thing in my life. You don’t get jhalmuri in Bombay. The concept of putting mustard oil in kurmura, as they say in Bombay, doesn’t exist. So when I found a thelawaala with jhalmuri in Santiniketan, I was thrilled! I took my make-up artist and said: ‘Listen, you have to eat this!’

When I was in Delhi University, we would take the Purushottam Express from Delhi to Tatanagar. We always knew we had entered east UP when suddenly there would be the familiar sound of ‘jhalmuri, jhalmuri, jhalmuri’ at a station. Jhalmuri is a big part of my childhood and I really went for it when I was shooting for Shekhar Home.

I know that you have been wanting to work in the comedy genre for a while. Has anything materialised on that front?

Well, I am still hoping. In Shekhar Home, I really loved seeing the comedic moments between Shekhar and Jayvrat on set. I would watch them and hope that I get a central role in something comedic. I am hoping that it happens very soon. I want someone to make an Indian version of Veep. That would be fun!