Sonam Kapoor.
Credit: Reuters File Photo.
"I'm ready and raring to go again," says Sonam Kapoor and one of the items on her agenda is to explore the long-form storytelling on OTT.
The actor, who took a break from work after the birth of son Vayu in August 2022, said she is inspired by her father Anil Kapoor's work on popular series 'The Night Manager'.
"I got pregnant at the tail end of COVID-19 and I've always said that I will take time off (from work). It was maternity leave, which every woman and man should get. I spent time with my baby. Now, I'm ready and raring to go again,” Sonam told PTI in an interview.
"I would love to do a mini-series or OTT shows. I saw my father’s show and I was very excited to see what it was like. It was at the level of any film that you will see. I would love to do something like that. I feel you can have more time playing a character,” the actor said.
Kapoor, 38, known for Delhi-6, Aisha, Raanjhanaa, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Neerja, was recently seen in Sujoy Ghosh-produced crime thriller Blind, which was filmed in 2021 and released on OTT in July this year. Her last theatrical outing was the 2019 release The Zoya Factor.
The actor, who recently promoted Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival's market initiative ‘Word to Screen’, said she likes to be part of book adaptations as her character is already well-established on paper.
She has featured in two films with literary inspirations -- 2010's “Aisha”, an adaptation of Jane Austen's famed novel Emma, and The Zoya Akhtar, the 2019 film which was based on Anuja Chauhan's 2008 book of the same name.
"For an actor, it is a lot easier to play a character that is already written because there’s so much description and a back story, etc".
"But sometimes, if it is a beloved character, then you might falter in the audience's expectations and the way they look at that character because a lot of people already know the story and they love the character".
She believes another Austen's classic 'Sense and Sensibility' would make for a fantastic book-to-screen adaptation.
Kapoor praised Rajshree Ojha, the director of Aisha and Abhishek Sharma of The Zoya Factor for the way they handled the book adaptations.
For ‘The Zoya Factor, it was controlled and all about the director. Everything I did, he had directed me. I had no control over my creative process. Every director works differently.
"With Aisha, I was given the freedom to create something that I wanted to create in terms of the character. We did many workshops. Even though we were bound by the book, we had the freedom to explore our characters,” Kapoor said.