‘As women, we tend to put others first’

Fronting Nupur Asthana’s short film in Modern Love Mumbai, Chitrangda on how she identified with her character

Being a fan of the US anthology, it was a no-brainer for Chitrangda Singh to give her nod to its Indian adaptation, Modern Love Mumbai. Her belief was strengthened further when the short film, Cutting Chai, brought to her a character that she immediately identified with. “Latika was completely relatable,” begins the actor, who plays a married woman who rethinks her choices as she struggles to find love in their humdrum existence.

Arshad Warsi and Chitrangda Singh in Cutting Chai

Through Latika, director-writer Nupur Asthana and writer Devika Bhagat depict how women often place themselves low in their list of priorities. Singh admits she has done so on some occasions. “As women, we tend to put others first. The sacrificing bone in you acts up. We hold ourselves behind. I think Latika partly lets that happen to herself, and her partner adds to it. I remember when I got married, I took a break from work because I wanted to invest my time in my family. When I did this role, I could completely relate to her. There is a part of Latika that thinks that she could have been so much more, but that’s anyone of us. The fact that she is a middle-class woman added to her simplicity.”

Nupur Asthana

The Amazon Prime Video series brings together six directors to explore diverse shades of love. Like its popular US counterpart, Modern Love Mumbai too is adapted from the New York Times columns. According to Singh, it’s the source material that makes the love stories stand out. “The series is a great idea because these simple and real stories can only come from real people. It comes from articles written by people. This is the best way to find real stories—complicated things happen to [everyday] people and how they deal with it is the beauty of modern love.”

Joining forces with co-star Arshad Warsi was sheer joy for the actor. “This is the first time I ever met Arshad. It’s amazing how effortlessly we slipped into the parts [of Daniel and Latika]. As an actor, he has an amazing rhythm to him.”

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