There are quite a few new players who entered the murky, dark, and revengeful world of Mirzapur’s second season on Amazon Prime Video last month. One of the foremost players is Madhuri Yadav Tripathi, CM Surya Pratap Yadav’s widowed daughter who marries Munna Tripathi and also becomes the next CM. Playing the complex character is Isha Talwar, the lovely actress from movies such as Tubelight, Kaalakandi, Kaamyaab, and Article 15. Isha, who started her journey in showbiz as a model and actor in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil cinema, is getting all the compliments for her portrayal of Madhuri and she is busy lapping them up, she tells TMM.
The audience has never seen you in this kind of a role before…
Even I had not seen myself in this kind of role before! It took me a while to acknowledge the fact that somebody had finally trusted me with such a good role. I never saw myself as a politician, cut to I’m being asked if I’m considering politics as a career! (laughs) To them, I say, ‘no, my acting career has just about begun’. The response has been tremendous. For six months I was not on social media, and now I’m living my life on the mobile phone and loving everything that is coming my way. A lot of people from the industry have messaged and appreciated my work. So, it’s all good.
Did you have any idea about the politics in Uttar Pradesh? How much did you have to research for your role?
I understood during the look test that this is not a part I can walk my way through. I went to my acting teacher Prince Kanwal, who has been doing theatre for the past 21 years. I had anyway trained the whole of 2019 as an actor because I could tell that my acting was a bit off. For Madhuri’s role, I prepped for three months because it’s a very different world. I watched a lot of videos of politician Dimpy Yadav. I won’t lie – it was a lot of work. This character has taken a lot from me.
Madhuri is a complex character. How did you get inside her mind?
I’m very thankful to my acting teacher for that. On the face of it, it’s easy to say that she is scheming. But the thread of this character is that she is a woman who is doing everything for survival in the Tripathi household, which is so powerful. This is not a woman who is manipulative. I also did workshops to understand what is going on. This is the first time I actually played a character. I don’t think in a decade of being around, I have ever played a character. It also really helps when your directors are open and collaborative.
You have worked with quite a few stalwarts in your career, including Pankaj Tripathi and Sanjay Mishra. What do they bring to the table?
It’s the whole table! (laughs) I also worked with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Roam Rome Mein, which is doing the festival rounds. I think they really spoil you. You don’t have to do anything. They are so rooted and centered and they hold all the surs. It’s actually a spin-off. If Munna is not going to give me anything, then I can’t do anything as Madhuri. You need that give and take.
You have done regional as well as Hindi cinema. Are you hoping Mirzapur 2 becomes a turning point and people take notice of you?
I’m convinced that if now people don’t take notice, then nothing can happen! There is so much I want to do, including Marathi and Gujarati films. After Madhuri, I’m really looking forward to some good roles coming my way.
What are you working on at the moment?
Currently, I’m jobless (smiles). Just before the lockdown, I was shooting for a film called Sharmaji Namkeen with the late Rishi Kapoor (ji). I have some beautiful, fond memories from the shoot. Let’s see what happens with that film. Rest, there is a bunch of things waiting to happen.
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