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Devangshi Sen, who plays Mira Kothari in the new Disney+ Hotstar show ‘Karmma Calling’ makes her debut on the silver screen and shares how she got into the industry.
Sen didn’t start her career with a film background, and instead decided to take a leap of faith and move to Mumbai on her own to start working in films.
“I’d never been to Mumbai before, and I didn’t know anybody. I came in March 2022, and because I had no idea how to approach this at all, like there isn’t necessarily an internet guide on how to make it as a Bollywood actress.”
Sen ended up meeting casting agent and artist Panchami Ghavri, and asked her if she could learn more about the audition process and the industry from her.
“She let me intern with her, and I asked her ‘I just want to stay for three months to work as much as possible.’ We did a lot of interesting projects, I was doing 6-7 scenes a day, so that was a positive … So when I left after my three months, I literally came back one week later to audition for Mira [for Karmma calling]”
Sen was excited to audition for the role of Mira Kothari, and was in shock when she was shortlisted for the part and finalized for the show.
‘Karmma Calling’ is the Indian adaptation of the popular 2010 American show ‘Revenge’, starring Emily Vancamp, Josh Bowman, and Madeleine Stowe. Mira Kothari is Raveena Tandon’s daughter in the show, and in ‘Revenge’, is played by Christa B. Allen.
“I did watch the first season … I properly binge watched all 22 episodes, and I absolutely loved the show, and I absolutely loved the character of Charlotte Grayson [the character Mira is based off]. That’s what pushed me to want to audition, I loved the arc she kind of goes through.”
Sen explains that both Mira and Charlotte face a lot of issues while growing up in a crazy world of politics and power, however, she didn’t necessarily want to bring pieces of Charlotte’s character into Mira’s.
“I knew that I did not want to copy Charlotte’s character or be subconsciously affected. I needed to keep in mind two main things: ‘Karmma Calling’ is based ten years after the original show is made, and I feel like teenagers … who they were ten years ago is completely different from who they are today. Influence of social media and access to information is so different, that the kids are so different. And also being based in an Indian context and background, as per the American culture, is really different.”
Mira is a social media influencer who is born to rich parents, but doesn’t receive the love from either of them, as well as her brother, and doesn’t have familial ties at an age in which she’s incredibly impressionable.
Sen films many scenes with Raveena Tandon, who plays the role of Indrani Kothari, the matriarch of the Kothari family.
“The first time I met her, I was just enamored by her, her aura was crazy, she gives off the energy and aura of ‘this is a superstar’. And then I had to go take pictures with her, because that day they were doing family look tests. I was freaking out in my head and trying not to show it in my face!”
Throughout the series, Indrani and Mira are continuously fighting and don’t have a great relationship with each other, which wasn’t the case with Tandon and Sen offscreen.
“We started doing readings together, and I think that’s when the ice was really broken. She’s just really funny, and she’s telling us stories about her kids, and that also made me feel less intimidated and nervous.”
Sen also said that Tandon really embodied the role of Indrani, which made filming scenes with her all that much easier.
“So when we were doing scenes where she’s harsh to me, I just saw her as Indrani, so it was really easy for me to lash out at her and look at her a certain way, I just had to be honest and present in the moment with her.”
Varun Sood and Namrata Sheth also play vital roles in the series as Ahaan Kothari and Karma Talwar respectively, and Sen bonded with them off screen as well, even though they don’t share too many scenes together.
“When the cameras were off, we were having the time of our lives. Varun and I basically became like brother and sister vibes in real life, he’s also a lot more experienced in the industry than I am, so spent a lot of time just chatting with Varun, and learning from his experiences.”
‘Karmma’ Calling is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
