'There's Nothing Like Dharma Or Adharma, That's What I've Tried To Maintain': Koneenica Banerjee On Playing Mallika In 'Aabar Rajneeti'
ABP Live had a conversation with Koneenica Banerjee, who essayed the role of 'Mallika Banerjee' in the series. Koneenika talked about her character and how she prepared to play such an intense role.
After a gripping Season 1, 'Rajneeti' is back on Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi as 'Abar Rajneeti', with Koneenica Banerjee, Ditipriya Roy, Arjun Chakraborty, and Kaushik Ganguly reprising their roles, as 'Rijpur' gears up for elections. An intense tale of power and politics surrounds the 'Banerjee House', showing that the game extends way beyond political parties, election campaigns, and policies. Politics, being an intrinsic part of human nature, runs in the 'Banerjee' household across generations.
Directed by Sourav Chakraborty, the series showcases the power dynamics in Rijpur, where there is no black or white, but only grey.
Amid this, ABP Live had a conversation with Koneenica Banerjee, who essayed the role of 'Mallika Banerjee' in the series. Koneenica talked about her character and how she prepared to play such an intense role.
She said, "Rajneeti had given me a very big platform because, after a long time, I was cast in a character with a long screen presence. As an actor, you crave a lot of things, so Rajneeti gave me that platform, and I was expecting a lot from Abar Rajneeti. I am grateful to Sourav, Ishita, and the entire team that they thought of me and gave me such a big role."
Koneenica Banerjee Talks About Her Character 'Mallika'
In the series, Koneenica playes the role of Mallika Banerjee who rose from being a typist to one of the biggest political names in Rijpur. Taling about the different shades Mallika has, Koneenica tried to find her own space and balance.
She said, "When I started playing this role, I found out that it is not very easy to act as a grey character who has a lot of humanity as well, when it comes to raising her son as well as Rashi (who is not her own daughter). If it's a negative character, that doesn't mean they are always negative, so you have to balance it out."
"I am really grateful to have had the chance to play Mallika, and the way the first season ended, I could feel that the audience was looking forward to the second one with a lot more expectations. And I am glad that we could fulfill all the expectations and do even more. This character is very attractive for any actor," Koneenica added.
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'Mallika Is A Mix Of A Lot Of Characters...'
"I wanted to see myself as Mallika—a character that has no similarities to what I am as a person. Mallika is a mix of a lot of characters and she has seen both sides of the world- the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless." said Koneenica, adding, "I have no interest in joining politics. But, I observe my surroundings very carefully. I have seen the changes my friends underwent after they joined politics, and I have realised in my journey over all these years that there is nothing like 'Dharma' or 'Adharma,' and that's what I have tried to maintain with my character Mallika as well—she does what she feels is right and I never wanted to make that character ruthless."
Will There Be A Third Season?
The scene where the second season got over gave rise to a lot of specualtions about the 'Banerjee House' with Mallika saing that the game is not over yet.
Talking about whether a third season is expected, Koneenica said, "It all depends on how the audience responds to the show. But, the way the audience has lapped it up till now, and the kind of responses we are getting, I think we should have a third season. Although I don't like things getting stretched a lot, but for this show, a third season is expected and needed because there has been no conclusion drawn yet."
Meanwhile, 'Abar Rajneeti' premiered on Hoichoi on May 24, earning rave reviews from the audience.