Meet The Bold And Unapologetic Women Of 'Mirzapur'

Mirzapur may be the hotbed of a power struggle between Pankaj Tripthai's Kaleen Bhaiya and Ali Fazall's Guddu. However, it's the women who have emerged as the most powerful adversaries and scene stealers in the show. Unapologetically fierce, and driven, the women of Mirzapur have evolved beyond from apprehensively waiting in the wings to driving the show as masterminds as well as power and revenge seekers.

From one of the most loved to one of the most hated characters in the show is Shweta Tripathi Sharma's Gajgamini Gupta aka Golu. Season 3 sees Golu who transformed from a student seeking reform to taking the path of violence into a dreaded gangster as Guddu's sidekick. Even though several viewers expressed their disappointment with the character's arc and called it one of the worst characters, Shweta is quick to defend Golu.

"Characters like Rasika's Bina and my Gold have not been written before. It is a big win for us as actors because we are raising the bar of our career graph. Whether it is a woman's desires or her individualism is not appreciated and even acknowledged. A man is never questioned for the same actions that women are, it is because of the conditioning and what has been ingrained in us as right and wrong, and the boundaries as individuals we have been conformed in, as actors it is fun to break this mould. As actors you are taught to be non-judgemental towards your characters because you cannot and should not imprint your beliefs and morals on the character you are playing. The women in Mirzapur are different, have their point of view, and want different things. The kind of comments, especially from a minority whose feathers are ruffled.. I didn't anticipate the extreme reaction to Golu. Maybe I don't have the intelligence they doubt as an actor my job was to do justice to what was written. I had no idea that seeing a petite girl transform into a gangster would irk some men the way it did", she says.

On the other hand, Rasika Dugal's calculative Beena, the wife of the protagonist Akhandanand Tripathi (Pankaj Tripathi) is comfortable in her femininity and has no qualms about using it to her advantage. Ambition and a thirst for power which are often frowned upon in women, is something Beena embraces with ease. Not the one to be relegated to the sidelines, Beena has another ace up her sleeve and is looking to take the reins of the family business.

Playing Beena was a point of departure for Rasika Dugal, who confesses that somewhere her reel character has empowered herself as well.

"I so many times wish I could take inputs from Beena into my life, and knew how to manipulate situations to my advantage, it would help,"says Rasika with a laugh.

The actor known for her power-packed performances in Manto, A Suitable Boy, says the character of Beena has been liberating for her as a woman and as an actor.

"I did feel a lot of freedom playing her, we are not one person, we are many people who just allow ourselves to be one kind of person, showcasing one side or few sides of ourselves. So I think this was a side of myself, where wearing your sexuality on your sleeve and things that I don't practise in my life, but have always admired in other women, and how beautifully they sensually carry themselves, and would wonder what is it like to be like this. Beena allowed me to be like that and gave me the room to ask what she wanted."

As narratives give female actors the platform to explore the many shades of being a woman, conversations around sexuality and feminine desires remain taboo topics. The show has also come under the scanner for its portrayal of violence as well as bad language.

Rasika is quick to defend the same saying, it only is a reflection of a regressive society." There is so much secrecy around conversations about sex and desire, that eventually anything you see off it becomes an act of titillation. Even though it is not intended like that, and is created and visualised aesthetically, it is seen through those eyes because for long the references in cinema have been very sexualised, so it's very hard to sort of break away from that even for us as creators. It's a challenge to sort of be able to stop yourself from falling into a familiar trap of how things are and have been conceptualised even for us as creators. But at the end of the day how you perceive what you see is based on your experiences and prejudices that they carry."

Mirzapur also catapulted its actors into the spotlight, with iconic characters which became a part of pop culture and social media discourse, with trending memes and hashtags. Even though the makers have announced its fourth edition, season 3 opened to lukewarm reviews. Having lived with the characters for nearly 9 years, both Rasika and Shweta reveal that when it comes to reviews and feedback, they have a detached stance.

"I think it's easier for me as an actor to receive feedback because one's involvement in the project is till the time one is shooting it. I have to admit I find feedback and reviews very interesting, as well as the comments on social media, It is giving me perspective from people across the board, from those who have vast knowledge about films to those who are there just to comment", says Rasika.

Shweta says playing Golu across three seasons is like revisiting an old friend and adds "We don't want our work to be contained. We want it to reach people and as an actor, you are hungry for roles that teleport you to realities different from yours. We want the viewers to enjoy what we have made, the other peripherals of gaining followers, and views are all a plus. Mirzapur had us all invested in each other's stories."

Mirzapur has been renewed for a Season 4, making it one of the longest-running Hindi shows on OTT.