EXCLUSIVE! Lisa Mishra on Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar starrer Netflix ‘The Royals’: ‘I am loving the way women solidarity is shown in cinema…’

Singer-turned-actress Lisa Mishra talks about working in Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar starrer The Royals, how she treated her love story like any other love story, playing a person from the LGBTQ community and rise of sisterhood in cinema where women are trying to fix each other’s crown.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

How did you prepare yourself for playing a person from the LGBTQ community in The Royals ?

I approached my character like a love story and didn’t worry so much about how to deliver the LGBTQ aspect of it because that could easily become a caricature. It was just treated with dignity and that is where the authenticity lies and we all fall in love the same way. I had the easier job because I play the character that is already out. I didn’t have to think about the backstory of my coming out until Jinny (my partner in the show) sort of starts questioning herself. I have many friends who are from the LGBTQ community, hence that helped me play the role in such a way that it doesn’t come out as a mockery or a mimicry of them.

You were there in Call Me Bae… so how do you make the shift from one character to another because in The Royal your role is very different as compared to Bae?

Both my characters in both shows are very similar because they are in corporate spaces. I was lucky to carry a little bit of Harleen from Call Me Bae into my character as Nikki in The Royals because both the characters are empowered and confident women in workspaces. I brought that out in my latest show in The Royals. There is a little commonality in who champions each other. Here I had the liberty to be a little bit more comedic unlike Call Me Bae because here I don’t play the boss.

Women solidarity or sisterhood is being shown in a big way in all the movies, what do you have to say about that?

I am loving the way women’s solidarity is now being shown in movies and series because, for a long time, we have seen women competing for male attention. I am happy to see solid female friendship being brought into Indian cinema. I want to see more of this in movies where women support each other rather than trying to put down each other. The more we see this on screen the better it is. There are enough seats at the table. There are plenty of rooms for all women.

Acting to me now is definitely more challenging. I am confident with music because I have done it since I was four-years-old. It’s like breathing for me; I don’t have to think twice as a musician nowadays. But in the case of acting, I have a long way to go and keep learning from the people who I work with. I need to attend workshops too. Acting is tougher now, but I believe the more I do it, the journey will get easier.