'Shantaram' Actress Sujaya Dasgupta Talks 'Dream Role','Humble' Co-Star Charlie Hunnam, and 'Nightmare Versus Fantasy' in Episode 5 (Exclusive)
Apple TV's Shantaram is a tense drama thriller starring Charlie Hunnam as Lin Ford, an escaped prisoner who holds up in the Bombay slums in India. The series is based on the novel of the same name by Gregory David Roberts, and stars a number of incredible actors, such as Sujaya Dasgupta, who plays Kavita, a passionate and motivated journalist searching for stories in places that could cause some trouble for Lin. Recently, PopCulture.com had a chance to speak with Dasgupta about her "dream role," and she offered a tease of the "nightmare versus fantasy" developments in Episode 5, as well as her experience working with Hunnam, whom she says is very "humble." [Please Note: Portions of this interview were edited to avoid spoilers.]
During our conversation, Dasgupta explained that she was "was aware of the book," Shantaram — which she calls a "colossal classic" — but "hadn't read it before I got the project. She added, "When I read the script, when I read the sides, when I was auditioning, what jumped out at me was the way Kavita was written because she wasn't your stereotypical South Asian woman. It wasn't that subservient factor. She wasn't reserved. She wasn't meek in any way. She was this gutsy, outspoken, fearless woman. And I saw that immediately when I read the sides.
Dasgupta continued, "That really spoke to me because again, the women I grew up with, strong Indian powerful women. So that really kind of spoke to me and resonated with me. I was like, 'Yes, good, we can see this on-screen finally.' So I think that's what drew me to, especially, Kavita. And I was like,'"I would love to play her.' I never thought it would happen in my wildest dreams, but I remember reading, I was like, 'This would be a dream role.'"
Reflecting on before she landed the role, Dasgupta explained, "Back then it was, you can imagine, very secretive and they didn't want to give too much information about the script or anything about the project. But I remember I was auditioning for a lot of things back then and it was lockdown in London. That's all I was doing. That was my day job and every single day. And I just remember this was the one that I was just like, 'God, this is the meaty role.'"
She then joked, "I don't know why I say that, because I'm vegetarian as well, so it's not appealing. It was just so juicy and I knew I could do a lot with her and really indulge my... There's a lot of characters that I wish I was more like, and I think Kavita is one of them. I really wanted to have a chance to indulge my self-confidence fantasies with her."
In Episode 5 of the show, which is now streaming on Apple TV+, Kavita makes some progress on her journalistic dreams, but by the end, we learn that her pursuit could prove very bad for Lin. "I found it so difficult talking about her previously because I was like, 'Anything I say about her will give away the story,' because a lot of people haven't seen episode five yet." Noting how the "threads of discovery" begin to unravel in the new episode, Dasgupta explained, "You've got probably nightmare versus fantasy really going on here. It's going to be very interesting what then takes place and how everything unravels really and what happens next...it's a very exciting arc."
Going on to compare the fictional story developments with real life, Dasgupta offered, "That's such a human thing, isn't it? That's exactly what everyone would hate. I guess you get it on a heightened scale if you're in the public forum or in the public eye because a lot of it is out of your control. But I can so imagine how nightmarish that is when it's not in your control and this information and it's very vulnerable. This is the rarest part of yourself. Yeah, it's scary, exciting for me, but it's scary thing."
Finally, we asked Dasgupta about acting alongside Hunnam in the show, whom she describes as an "incredible" person. "I was really taken aback by his sense of groundedness," she said. "He's so down to earth, really about the work, incredibly professional on set, off set, and a really brilliant, I think leader of this company. You needed someone to look to lead this show. It's him, and he's incredible and he's so humble. I didn't have any expectations, but that was really lovely to learn about him. It's such a horrible word, nice, but he's just a nice guy. I think niceness is underrated, but I think just him. And he's been working for such a long time, but his sense of humility is outstanding and I love that."
Dasgupta continued, "And also on a professional level, working with him in scenes, amazing, because you got to play off him. He would offer something new every time. He would care about the scene as much as you and offer different things every take. And you would respond to that. And I love that. As an actor, that's delicious. That's what you want when you're doing screen work." The first five episodes of Shantaram Season 1 are currently available to stream on Apple TV+.
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