Actress Sonali Kulkarni opened up about her experience of working on her first audiobook, “His Majesty’s Tiger” during an exclusive conversation with IANS.
When asked how she prepared for the role of Rani Sukanya for the audiobook, where all the emotions had to be conveyed through the voice itself, Sonali told IANS, “This is a medium where you don’t have any artificial accessory to prove that you are playing a queen. I didn’t have makeup or costumes, and neither did I have sets to help me portray this character. It was the sheer command in my voice and at the same time Rani Sukanya holds very human emotions and poise- it’s not that she’s blind with her royalty position.”
Shedding light on the complexities of her character, she revealed, “I really liked the way Rani Sukanya plays a mother, a queen, a citizen, and a relative. She is bonded with her family, she is bonded with her son, she is a kind boss and she is a proud queen, and at the same time, she is pained immensely. So, it was very important for us as a team to bring out all these nuances well because usually, we think if you have a very bossy voice, half the battle is won- it is not about that. A boss too is a human, so Rani Sukanya has immense human shades, and I did not have any other aid to make the listeners believe that I am the queen, but I am very happy that I have fabulous co-voice actors who portrayed their parts well and I had to keep in mind that after going through all these emotions she has to take care of her state.”
“So, we tried to hold her power, and I am very happy as my board of directors decided that she doesn’t fear getting exposed. So for me, I just realized that we always heard that- she is the first woman who became the Prime Minister or the President, or went to the Moon, this and that, but having said that, all they have to go through, that challenge is well explored in the series, and I am quite touched about it.” Sonali concluded.
