Berlin International Film Festival 2023 | Karisma Kapoor on playing the character of Rita Brown

Karisma Kapoor-starrer Brown to be part of Berlin Market Selects 2023. Brown is a police procedural following the story of Rita Brown, a suicidal alcoholic, and Arjun Sinha, a widower with survivor’s guilt. In the show Brown,  Karisma Kapoor is playing a very deglamorised role. he plays a recovering alcoholic named Rita Brown, a cop, who is investigating the murder of a young woman. The neo-noir drama show, directed by Abhinay Deo of Delhi Belly fame and produced by Zee Studios, is part of a line-up of 16 titles from five continents. _Brown_ is based on Abheek Barua’s 2016 book City of Death. The thriller has been adapted by Digvijay Singh, Sunayana Kumari and Mayukh Ghosh. In an EXCLUSIVE interview with Firstpost, Karisma Kapoor says that the layered character of Rita Brown, a recovering alcoholic who works for Kolkata police, is very different from her real life and that was the challenge in the role. Karisma talks about cinema changing and how it is a great time to be an actor. She believes that no matter what age you are today there is a good role for everybody to play. Edited excerpts from the interview: Brown is being shown at the Berlin International Film Festival , 2023 and the first Indian web series to be shown over there. How do you feel about that? It is a very proud moment for the whole team of Brown and the kind of hard work and the nuanced preparation that has gone into creating Brown whether it was at the script level, performance level or workshop, location and for it to get noticed at the international platform it is very humbling and we are super excited to let the international audience also see this part of India. You are playing a deglamorised character as Rita Brown. What was the preparation for the role like playing an alcoholic woman? To play the role of Rita Brown who is a layered character was an interesting challenge for me. Here was a strong woman who is flawed, intelligent, but she has been through a lot in her life. She is just worn out and she is absolutely raw and humane and that was the interesting part because you don’t get to see characters like this all the time. Your journey in the entertainment industry… I literally grew up in the industry. It was like climbing the ladder, a lot of hard work and I remember in those days we used to do three to four shifts a day. But today times are very different where we get a chance to read the script and you have a workshop where you can work playing the character. So, I would say the industry grew on me and I have seen the different phases of the industry. It was definitely a wonderful journey and I am thankful to God for that. And an opportunity today to play a character like Rita Brown doesn’t come every day because you don’t get to play this kind of strong woman’s role. On women’s roles changing and not being ornamental like the way it used to be… The OTT platform has brought about this change and it is an interesting time for craftsmen. The actors are getting a chance to do different things and that’s the fun way of working. It is a good change because today being an actor no matter what you age is you still have a place and a meaty role to play. It is an interesting time in the industry because different types of subjects are being made. How similar is your real life character with Rita Brown? It’s actually very different (laughs). I think that was challenging because she is so different from me in real life. To bring Rita Brown to life was tough and to live with this character within me while playing the role and to do things which are beyond my comfort zone was a great experience. Things that I am doing on the show, I don’t do it in real life. She is not the regular strong heroine. She is very different whether it is her body language, her thought process. It is all very complex. The kind of detailing that went into making the show and for the international audiences to notice it, makes me believe that the team of Brown were on the right path. The city of Kolkata is an important character in Brown, what is your personal liking for the city of joy? I always loved Kolkata. I think it is one of the richest cities in the world in terms of culture and heritage. And there is a beautiful laid back sleepiness to it which is also there in Rita’s character. The makers have taken a lot of interest in the slightest detailing of the city. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.