For fans of Mobland — Guy Ritchie's encouragingly violent, pell-mell North London crime saga, headlined by Pierce Brosnan and Tom Hardy — a surprise was sprung in the sixth episode of the new season. Koël Purie Rinchet, last seen playing Betty Cooper's mother in The Archies, and in the murder mystery Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa, turned up as the enigmatic character of Priyanka, moneyed mum to Seraphina (Mandip Dhillon) and an old flame of Conrad Harrigan (Brosnan). The episode settled the mystery of Seraphina's complex parentage and also offered a pleasant change of scenery for the show, decamping from grungy London to sun-soaked Mallorca.
For someone who was born to Indian journalist and India Today founder Aroon Purie, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and once accidentally spilled tea on former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on her iconic chat show, life is hardly wanting in surprises. Still, Rinchet says, the chance to play opposite Brosnan came as a happy kicker.
"My UK agents put me up for the part," she tells THR India over a call from France, where she is based in the countryside outside Paris.
"I got through the first round and was called in for an in-person meeting in London." She met with the director of the episode, Zetna Fuentes, whose credits include Pluribus, This Is Us and other high-profile shows. I was just happy to be in the room, to be considered of this calibre." At the same time, she adds, "you do get a certain vibration when something is falling into place."
In this conversation, Rinchet spoke about her time on the show, darkening her makeup for the audition, shooting an 'intimate' scene with Pierce Brosnan, and a pretty shawl she gifted to Helen Mirren.
Excerpts:
What happens after you are selected for a role in a major international series?
Koël Puri Rinchet: Once you’ve got the part, everything moves quickly. I went in for a costume and look test in London. By the fourth or fifth day, I was flown to Mallorca to begin shooting. There’s very little time to research or prepare at length. I binged-watched season one again, to understand the pace and tone of the show, and also to gather all the intel about my character. Priyanka has gone from a stripper to a billionaire wife. She must have taken a lot but now she wants to show off and be the best host. There’s lots of acquired but fake refinement beauté, and she’s not above using her bedroom skills to get her way.
My biggest preparation was to walk onto the set with the confidence and authority the character demanded. Since you’re working with legends like Pierce and Helen, it’s easy to feel intimidated, but you don’t have the time to go down that rabbit hole. What ends up happening a lot on shows abroad is that when you have a character who is high status, the actor playing the part is the lowest status on set.
Do you mean there's a hierarchy?
Not in the sense that you are treated differently, given different food etc. I am aware that is often the case in the Indian scenario. Here, it's more a case of who matters more in a scene. You may be a school principal or the founder of a big company and bossing everyone around, but you're seen as the smallest person on set. In my case, I'm already quite full of myself, and I treat myself very well. So I decided to go in there as high-status as I can, as the character demanded.
Your role of Priyanka is the first major Indian character on the show, while Seraphina is of mixed heritage and I am not too sure about Iqbal (Samuel Gosrani). While there's increased diversity on contemporary British and American TV, are there also blind spots?
I have a little confession to make. I’ve auditioned for several shows, received encouraging feedback, and then not got those roles. This happened with shows like The White Lotus and a few others. When I looked at the actors who were eventually cast, I began to notice a pattern: the West wants its Indian people to be darker. That’s just the way it is. India, on the other hand, wants its Indian people to be lighter.
Because I’m from North India and a fairer version of what the West thinks an Indian should look like, I quite often don’t get parts because I don’t look 'Indian enough'.
For this audition, I actually brown-faced myself, if that’s the word for it. I went several shades darker with my makeup. When I got the part, I was quite pleased. Fortunately, I was shooting in January, straight after a beach holiday, so I was already quite tanned.
This is one aspect of diversity that still needs to change: recognising that Indians come in all sorts of shades.
What was your impression of Pierce Brosnan before and after working on the show?
I’ve loved Pierce Brosnan since Remington Steele, which used to air on Indian television. I always thought he was gorgeous and incredibly charming, with his perfect jawline and accent. He’s a big, fat flirt, and he’s aged beautifully. Working with him was wonderful. There was a moment on set when I suddenly had this feeling of awe. I thought, “I’m on my knees. This is Pierce Brosnan. The camera was moving in. I was like, ‘Pinch yourself, Koel, where the fuck are you?’”
He could see that I was overwhelmed, so he held my hand and said, “You got this. You got this, babe. Come on. You got this.” He was incredibly reassuring and generous.
There is a moment of implied intimacy between Priyanka and Conrad in the episode. How was that handled?
It's hardly sexual and it was not even written in the script itself. It was entirely suggestive. However, we did have an intimacy coordinator on set. She was wonderful and stayed out of the way because there was nothing really to do. She just told me, 'If at any moment you are even slightly uncomfortable, I'm standing in your eyeline. You just need to say.'
We see Conrad in the room later, with his pants down.
They actually cut the scene shorter. I mean, a little more does happen, but nothing as intimate as would make you uncomfortable. There were no clothes off, none of that.
Helen Mirren as Maeve has emerged as the most unhinged character on Mobland. There's a hilarious bit during the dinner table scene where she mispronounces your name as 'Priwanka..."
That was a total improvisation that came from Helen. It was a joke she made during rehearsal. We were fooling around with the scene and she went, "Priwanka..." Everyone started laughing and said, 'keep it, keep it, That is so funny'. And she asked me, "Do you think people will be offended?” My response was that someone like Maeve doesn’t care if people will be offended.
Helen Mirren is 81 years old. Right. When I met her on set, she had just landed a night before receiving the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Golden Globes. It's a long flight from L.A to Mallorca, but she was completely prepared and ready to have fun. I also gifted her a shawl that she really loved. It’s designed by my dear friend Malini Ramani. That was an amazing moment I manifested.
Did you get to interact with Tom Hardy?
Tom Hardy keeps to himself. He's extremely pleasant and polite, but he's not as gregarious or sociable as all the other people on set. I'm not his friend so I don't know if he was just being in character or that's how he is in real life. But he is so good on the show!