Sobhita Dhulipala: Society often makes a woman feel apologetic post miscarriage

Mumbai (IANS) – Actress Sobhita Dhulipala, who plays a traumatised pregnant woman in the upcoming Netflix anthology film “Ghost Stories”, says that the trauma attached to miscarriage, and the way society treats a woman who is apologetic for the incident, is intimate and universal at the same time.

Sobhita features in the segment directed by Anurag Kashyap, in the horror film, which comprises four segments.

“It is an interesting story and I know that it is a reality for so many people. It is a very intimate and a very internal feeling yet very universal. When a woman loses a child — that is if a miscarriage happens — she goes through a trauma. On top of that, her upbringing and social conditioning make her apologetic about her existence for the rest of her life. If a woman fails to give birth, society looks at her as if she is not woman enough — as if she does not deserve the life she has. It is not a reality for one section of society. It is universal,” Sobhita told IANS.

The story revolves around the bond between a little boy and his pregnant maternal aunt who is desperately waiting for her child to be born, having suffered a miscarriage in the past.

“I have no first-hand experience of parenthood or miscarriage but I have seen people who have gone into depression after miscarriage, and how society makes it worse for them to deal with the trauma. They turn it into a taboo, there is shame attached to it, but why? When society shames a woman, the realisation of it makes you move,” said Sobhita.

Sobhita was launched in Bollywood by Kashyap in the 2016 film “Raman Raghav 2.0”, and this is the second time she is collaborating with the filmmaker.

“I think the best part of working with Anurag is he does not direct his actors too much. Even in my first film, I largely played the character the way I interpreted it after reading the script. He is there to guide me, which is needed because he as the director sees the broader perspective while I am focussed on my contribution. That is what empowers his actors,” said Sobhita, who has appeared in films such as “Chef”, “Kaalakaandi”, “Goodachari”, “Moothon”, and the a couple of web series such as “Made In Heaven” and “Bard Of Blood”.

Is the digital entertainment space more exciting? “Honestly, I want to belong to the medium that gives me the chance to show my skill as an actor and also tells good stories. As an actor, I am telling a story through my performances (just as) …a scriptwriter is doing so through writing. The fact is, these days I am getting more exciting offers from web series. Basically I am not strategising, but going from story to story,” mentioned the actress.

“Ghost Stories” consists four short films directed by Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Zoya Akhtar. It streams on Netflix from January 1.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

–IANS
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