Script is the king for Seema

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After portraying a variety of roles, a woman who brought out the strong image of the bandit queen in front of the world, Seema Biswas recently won Best Supporting Actress at the Los Angeles Movie Awards for Miraj Group’s Queens! Destiny of Dance.

The film that sensitively touches the subject of the queer community, won six titles at the awards in the International Films Category.
Telling us what made her opt for this film she says, “I took up the role as this wasn’t a film which portrayed the hijra community in a negative light. They weren’t shown as an ‘issue’. They are shown as normal people and it touches upon the subject of their cause sensitively. I wanted to be a part of a script like that.”
About the hijra community, Seema feels, the subject is overrated in our country and it’s time for filmmakers to look beyond the conventional “sad picture” portrayal of the community. “That’s what I liked the most about the script in Queens! I was always scared of the hijras, but when I worked with them in this film, I realised they are far more graceful than most women I know. Most films in our country show their plight or present them as people who are not a part of the society. But this film wasn’t a story segregating the community. We need to understand that they are one of us and need to be presented like that only,” she adds.
For someone who has done a variety of roles, she says it’s not the strength of the role that excites her, but the script. “I just don’t want to do the same character again. I’m never bothered about about the strength of the role, nothing is big or small. The only thing that excites me the most is the script. I signed up for Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children as the script is great and I got a chance to work with so many good actors. And I really wanted to work with Deepa. There are many films where I’ve done small roles, but I’ve enjoyed them all. I can even play a granny, but I just don’t want to do the same role many times,” she says.
Refusing to do very intense roles, she says, “When I played a cop in Ek Haseena Thi, I received many offers to play a cop again and these were leading roles, but I refused. I thought to myself, ‘I can’t wear the khakis again and walk like a man’. Shekhar Kapur signed me for Bandit Queen after looking at my comedy performance. I miss those days and those kind of roles,” she says.