Pratibha Ranta on Choosing Accused as her Second Film After Laapataa Ladies: I wanted to differentiate myself as an artiste

Kiran Rao’s beloved film Laapataa Ladies gave one of the most promising ladies, Pratibha Ranta a role of a lifetime that was just the stepping stone to her cinematic career. For her, to find a project that matched Laapataa Ladies wasn’t a cakewalk. After starring in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period drama Heeramandi, Pratibha explores another gripping genre with Anubhuti Kashyap’s Accused, a Netflix original.

“There was so much love coming in. My debut raised so many standards. I was like: will I ever be able to do something that would achieve what Laapataa did?” she says.

Pratibha admits that the period after the film’s release was one of confusion, where she read a lot of scripts, but it wasn’t easy to find the right one until Anubhuti Kashyap’s Accused came in. “Oh My God, I think I am able to feel myself in this space,” she expresses and adds, “During shooting, there was silence on set. Nobody was shouting and it was so rare to see that!”

As Ranta plays one half of a lesbian couple in Accused, who find their relationship tested after one of them faces an accusation of sexual harassment at the workplace, meant that Pratibha had to face a few doubters upon choosing such unconventional role. “So many people said ‘are you sure you want to do a film like this? It’s a big risk.’ But I wanted to give it a shot and be in a space where I can differentiate myself as an artiste. I didn’t want to repeat myself. It felt right,” she says.

Pratibha shares the screenspace for the first time with Konkona Sen Sharma, renowned for making thoughtful choices of work and portraying off-beat, layered characters. Sharing experience of working alongside Sharma, Pratibha says, “I remember being nervous to meet her. She gave me so much space as an artiste to perform; it helped me. After pack-up, she’d be like let’s go for a walk. I felt it helped us understand each other better and develop comfort, which showed on screen. A secure actor always makes sure that the co-actor also feels safe.”

Speaking about the film, Pratibha says that it taps into the complexities of human relationships. “When you love somebody, you give them the benefit of doubt. It’s not easy to instantly believe they can do some wrong,” she says and adds, “You don’t want to give up on them, want to be there till the extreme end.”

After stepping into Anubhuti Kashyap’s Accused, Pratibha Ranta genre-hops into Nikkhil Advani’s Amazon Prime Series, The Revolutionaries.