A continuation of the “Sex and the City” TV series and films, “And Just Like That …” on HBO Max picks up with three of the four original pals — Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte — navigating their lives in middle age. Sarita Choudhury joins the cast playing a new character named Seema Patel, Carrie’s glamorous real estate agent.
“Seema is very different from me,” Choudhury said. “She is very powerful in business, she’s wealthy and dressed so elegantly and has no fear of putting on too much jewelry. Everything that I’m not! I literally wear jeans and a ratty T-shirt. But apart from her elegance, there is a lot I related to.”
What has it been like joining an iconic group of characters? “I was thinking, how am I going to jump into a show that I used to watch? And part of my brain was like, ‘Oh my God, am I having a Cosmo with the girls? Oh my God!’ So I had to let myself have that moment, and then I had to ignore it.”
Choudhury’s career includes roles on everything from Showtime’s “Homeland” to “The Hunger Games” films. But her first screen credit was the one that got her noticed in a big way, starring opposite Denzel Washington in the 1991 romantic drama “Mississippi Masala” from director Mira Nair, and when asked about a worst moment in Choudhury’s career, it was her audition for this movie that came to mind.
My worst moment …
“This story is from the beginning of my career because ‘Mississippi Masala’ was my first film. I was living in London at the time and I had a first meeting with the casting director to make sure, I don’t know, maybe that you’re not crazy? And then I got a call saying I was going to meet Mira and read for the role of Mina in ‘Mississippi Masala.’
“The audition was in Soho. And at the time I had no money. I think I literally had £7.50 in my pocket, that was it. That’s important to remember.
“You know how whatever (physical attributes) you have, you don’t love? My hair is so thick and I always looked so fresh and in my early 20s I hated that! That was not the look I was going for. I wanted to look like an intellectual. So I was thinking, I’m not going to wash my hair for a few days and I’m going to put some oil in it to make it look cool. I didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard, so it was sort of flat and a little greasy.
“I show up at the audition. And the casting director, who I actually really like as a person, she was like, ‘What did you do to your hair?’ I was so shocked because I thought I looked so cool! And I said, ‘Nothing, it’s just got a bit of oil in it.’ And she said, ‘Sarita, I can’t — I don’t know what to say. You can’t go in there like that. You have to go to a hairdresser’s and get it washed. And then we’re going to have to come up with an excuse for why you’re late.’
“And I probably just said, ‘Yeah, OK,’ and I left. But I didn’t have enough money in my pocket to go to a hairdresser’s. So I went and found a barbershop, I almost had tears in my eyes and I said to the guy: ‘Look, I have five quid in my pocket, I need my hair washed. You don’t need to do anything else.’ I just begged the guy. He looked so annoyed and bored with me, but he did it. And then I had to stand in the corner and blow dry it myself, he wouldn’t even do that.
“And then I marched back to the audition and I go into the room. And I remember standing in front of Mira and she didn’t know why I was coming an hour late and I didn’t know what to say. It was very awkward. And I didn’t feel pretty, because my hair looked so fluffy and healthy. And at that age, I wanted to look like a French movie star, I didn’t want to look fresh-faced and apple-cheeked.”
“The reading went all right, but I remember thinking, why aren’t I able to chat with Mira? My answers were very monosyllabic. I just remember thinking, I’m not going to get this role because I’m not showing her who I am, I’m just tense. Also, she’s very charismatic and that threw me, because just her smile, everything is so alive.
“What’s funny about the story is, now Mira talks about it (laughs) and she’s like, ‘I just kind of fell in love with you more.’ I thought it was this secret that I had with the casting director, but when Mira brought it up years later, I looked at her like, oh my gosh, of course she knew. She and the casting director had talked about it and Mira said she found it completely endearing. Also, the character of Mina was kind of like that, so she thought it was perfect.
“But in that moment, I’ll never forget the awkwardness. And just wishing my 22-year-old brain would articulate anything.”
Actors want to feel calm and focused before an audition and this sounds like a discombobulating experience.
“You know when you’re running somewhere when you’re late? It felt like that. I felt a little panicky. Two hours before, with my greasy hair, I felt like I had a bit of an angle and then suddenly I felt I had been told off a bit — like I had been found out and was told that my idea of cool didn’t work. I didn’t think they were right!
“But also, I didn’t feel like myself. At that age, I never blew dry my hair, I would just go to bed with it wet so that I would wake up with messy curls. And for the audition it was blown dry and fluffy and I remember thinking, oh, she’s not going to like the way I look.
“It’s a miracle that I got that role. I assumed I wasn’t going to get it and I was going to ask her later, ‘Can I just be on the film set and serve coffee?’ Because I was a film graduate student, I already had that interest.
“Well, I went back again for another callback. And afterward she said, ‘Sarita, it’s been such a pleasure reading with you.’ And I thought, well that doesn’t sound good. I thought she was politely letting me down.
“As I was leaving she said, ‘Do you want to meet for a drink later?’ And I was thinking, oh no, I can’t afford to go home and come back; it was all about money then, it was constantly how you were arranging your day. And in England, public transport is pretty expensive. So I was thinking, oh God, I’m going to have to hang out in Soho for the next four hours, which I did. And then when we had a drink, we sat down and she looked at me and said, ‘Would you do me the honor of playing Mina for me.’
“And I was so taken aback, I burst into tears and then immediately asked if I could use the pay phone to call my dad collect, he was in Bangladesh at the time. So that’s how it happened.”
The takeaway …
“There’s a Leonard Cohen quote I’m going to paraphrase that’s something like: That which we don’t like about ourselves, or are uncomfortable with, is often what people fall in love with. And that’s my takeaway.
“As awkward and embarrassing as we sometimes are, that is actually the most human thing people relate to, more than behaving and being perfect.
“I feel like it’s taken me a long time to realize that. What seems to be an embarrassing story is just your human story and that’s why people like you.”
Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.
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My worst moment: 'And Just Like That ...' star Sarita Choudhury and the hair that almost got in the way of landing her first role in 'Mississippi Masala' - Chicago Tribune
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