Rasika Dugal connects with elders in the family to prepare for role of Manto's ...

Actor Rasika Dugal is leaving no stone unturned to prepare for her next film. The actor, who plays Safiyah Manto, wife of Sadat Hassan Manto (essayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui) in Nandita Das’s biopic on the Pakistani writer, began her prep by learning Urdu.

To make the role look more authentic, Rasika has reached out to the elders in her family in order to understand the era of 40’s and 50’s in which the film is set. “My family moved from Rangoon to Rawalpindi during World War II. My father was born in Lahore in 1946. Those were difficult times,” says Rasika, adding that during family gatherings, she gets to hear interesting stories from that era.

“Our family get-togethers are about the stories such as my uncle who walked across the Indo-Burma border, or a woman who gave birth in a ship carrying refugees etc. So, I decided to reconnect with my family to revisit the time through those stories. It helps me understanding the mindset and mannerism of the people of that time,” says the actor, who was last seen in the TV show P.O.W.- Bandi Yuddh Ke.

Rasika feels emotionally moved by these stories. “What strikes me the most every time I hear these stories is the strength, simplicity and sensitivity of the friendships and relationships at that time. I have also heard stories about unknown people helping them out in times of hardships. Maybe that was indeed a better world or maybe it’s just like that in our memory. Who knows?,” she adds.