One glance at Nandita Das’s career graph will tell you that she has never played it safe. Taking up one challenging role after another, ever since her debut, she has always been different from her counterparts in the way she approaches her craft. Today her talent is recognised across the country and around the world. But if you ask her to describe herself, she uses the word “unambitious”.

She says, “I am not an ambitious actor waiting to prove my talent. I have no agent, no PR. I lived in Delhi all my life, recently moved to Mumbai for matters of the heart! So I have chosen what came my way, not actively looked for anything. Also I am instinctively drawn towards compelling stories, more than just the roles I am offered.”
Perhaps it was her search for compelling stories that prompted her to work in a French theatre production, Eric Vigner’s Gates to India Song, which is currently touring the country. “When I first read the script, to be honest, I didn’t understand anything. I thought it was too esoteric for me. But Eric Vigner, a pure artiste, made me curious about experiencing something new. I still can’t claim that I understand it fully, but I am glad I got the opportunity to go beyond my comfort zone.”
The daughter of painter and sculptor Jatin Das doesn’t like to be asked why she didn’t pursue fine arts like her father. “My father has had a deep influence on me and my choices. Right from the beginning he encouraged me to question everything and gave me the freedom to explore. While growing up, I met many different artists, musicians, dancers, painters, sculptors... In fact, when people would say, ‘Are you going to be a painter like Jatin Das?’, I found that very irritating!” she says.
Nandita continues, “I went on to do my Masters in social work and acting came later in my life. Even today, it is one of the many things I do and I see it more as a way to express myself than a career.”
Nandita turned director with Firaaq in 2008 and a few years later went on to start her own theatre company, Chhoti Productions, with husband Subodh Maskara.
While she has this image of a serious actor, Nandita says she would love to step out of it. “I have always been on the fringes of the Mumbai film industry and have done different things throughout my working life. I would love to do a comedy, but who would take that risk of giving me one! I am happy to explore a different genre, but within my sensibility and interest. But we like to label people and put them in a box,” she says.
Unlike a lot of other actors, who pursue both cinema and theatre, Nandita doesn’t feel torn between the two worlds. “Whatever grabs me in that moment, I do that. So I don’t feel torn. And what motivates me is my desire to reach out to people with the stories I feel are important to tell, though the medium may vary,” she says.
As she sits mulling over a few film scripts she may take up in the near future, she says, “I have begun reading film scripts — a few are quite interesting. But the funding for the kind of films I like has become very difficult these days.”
She continues, “In terms of directing my next film, I am looking for a story, a book that can be adapted or a powerful script waiting to be made. I know it will happen when the time is right. I also have a very exciting directorial short film, but it’s still not fully certain, so can’t tell you now. But at all times I have enough to do to keep me happily busy and there is never really a dull moment!”