The Married Woman gives me an opportunity to showcase my acting skills to the fullest: Monica Dogra

This International Women’s Day will see the premiere of The Married Woman, an 11-episode web series that explores the love story of a same sex couple. Ridhi Dogra and Monica Dogra play the lead role in the series which is an official adaptation of Manju Kapur’s novel of the same name. The Married Woman is set in 1992 against the milieu of communal turbulence when Babri Masjid demolition created unrest in the country.

The series traces the story of Astha (played by Ridhi), a dutiful wife and a doting mother who gradually experiences a sense of incompleteness and sets out on a journey of self-discovery after she meets and finds an intense connection with Peeplika, an artist-activist. While Ridhi was excited bagging the titular role, she was equally apprehensive about the treatment. “I wanted the story to be approached in a sensitive manner and once the work started I realised the team was already sensitised to the story. We did a lot of reading between all the actors and shared ideas on how we see the characters, how we view the relationship between the two women. The prep work was done very diligently."

Ridhi Dogra as Astha

The Married Woman features few intimate scenes between Monica and Ridhi, and both the actors say that it was their great on-screen and off-screen chemistry that helped them prepare for the scenes. "Right from the stage of writing to executing, the team, including, the writer (Jaya Misra) and Sahir (Raza, director) were very clear about the approach towards same-sex relationships. They wanted to handle it with certain dignity and sensitivity. Before we went on set, we had references of what kind of shots he wants to take, we knew exactly how many intimate scenes will be shot, how they will be shot, the purpose behind it, we had discussed everything. We talked through absolutely every dialogue, every movement. Sahir kept asking us if there was anything we would like to add to the scenes, or change, or have reservations about. Half of our apprehensions were dissolved even before they could rise," said Monica, who made her Bollywood debut with Dhobi Ghat in 2011 and further featured in a couple of films such as David (2013) and Teraa Surroor (2016).

"I have been known as a musician and for having played a few roles on the big screen, but this project gives me an opportunity to showcase my acting skills to the fullest. It’s a very poignant story that is important to tell. I play a pansexual artist activist who is passionate about liberating herself and everyone around her from false societal pressures based on divisive religion or politics. I haven’t seen too many characters like her before. I resonate with these themes very deeply," said Monica.

Monica Dogra as Peeplika

While Ridhi said, “Monica and I hit it off from day one. I had met her earlier. And I have been saying this a lot, I feel like there are times when, as actors, we have to do a lot of intimate scenes. I have done a lot of intimate scenes all through my television career. But I feel the comfort that a girl can have with a girl on set, as actors, is far more because we are the same people. At that level, it was so easy. And girls understand each other well, in terms of insecurities and understanding the discomfort.”

She furthers, “And as it is when you are shooting a kissing scene it is very technical. For every scene we had storyboard ready, there was full clarity about how we are going to shoot each shot. When we got down to doing that kissing scene we didn’t even realise when it started and when it ended. It was like any other scene, an action move or choreography.”

Meanwhile, Raza hopes that the audience connects with the story and doesn't search for any cheap thrills. “The idea was to tell a beautiful and very personal story of two women. We want to give the audience a piece of filmmaking that they would enjoy realistically and not search for big hook points, or to make it exciting for the sake of making it exciting. We have stayed true to how human beings behave as opposed to adding anything just to get eye-balls. The core idea and characters are authors' but our writers have come up with the rest of the world that we have built around these two women. The show adds a lot of external situations and drama within the lines of the character. It is a contemporary show telling a story in the past," said Raza.

A still from The Married Woman

Ridhi describes The Married Woman as a gentle story and an apt release on Women's Day. “It talks about the emotions and feelings which usually women don’t talk about. They don’t even acknowledge it in them. The show is like a warm hug, a soft breath which every woman would identify with. At some point in life we ask ourselves, What am I? Who am I? Why am I here? What I’m doing? Where is life going? It is like the audience meeting Astha at that point in her life. It is a peep into Astha’s life at this point in her life where these questions hit her. It is like human transformation that we all go through and that would be relatable,” said Ridhi.

Produced by Ekta Kapoor, The Married Woman also stars Imaad Shah, Ayesha Raza, Rahul Vohra, Divya Seth Shah, Nadira Babbar and Suhaas Ahuja in key roles.

The Married Woman will stream on ALT Balaji and Zee5 from 8 March.