“It is a busy year ahead,” Rajshri Deshpande had told me when I connected with her earlier this year.

As the year unfolds Rajshri is indeed delivering power-packed performances one after the other, Sacred Games being the latest addition to the illustrious list.

Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane directorial, the series has already taken the entertainment industry by storm owing to its strong, unflinching and uncompromising portrayal of characters, plot, and events. With no censor board to draw a condescending eye on it, the series has put on screen everything that the script demanded, including graphic imagery and nudity.

Rajshri who plays the strong character of Subhadra, Gaitonde’s wife, has shot a nude scene for the series. The Indian audience, however, is quite intolerant of women who show no inhibitions. This intolerance mixed with perversion has lead to the screenshots from that particular lovemaking scene being spread and misrepresented everywhere on social media.

“It is everywhere on the net and that’s so bad. I’m constantly complaining to Instagram and Facebook to take it down,” Rajshri said in an interaction with Scroll.

She adds, “I’m not surprised though – when I did [Sanal Sasidharan’s] Sexy Durga, people would ask me if it was a porn film. I’d be like, at least do some research, read what the film is about. People who haven’t watched Sacred Games and have just seen that scene will have the wrong picture. But that’s technology for you – it’s brilliant that it has transformed our lives but horrible that it is also used as a weapon.”

Right, when she signed the film, Rajshri knew that her role requires frontal nudity. She explains, “Gaitonde and Subhadra’s relationship is an intimate one, so I completely got why the scene was necessary. Anurag sir even told me that I could tell him if I was uncomfortable. But I don’t have such inhibitions. I’m portraying love, not degrading anything.”

Apart from the trolling though, Rajshri is quite satisfied with the character Subhadra. She makes her first appearance in the fourth episode of the show. From there, the character starts asserting its strong presence in the Gaitonde household.

Rajshri says, “It is when Subhadra comes into Gaitonde’s life that he first has this feeling that here’s someone who can overpower him.”

She adds, “Yes, he is fascinated with Kukoo [Gaitonde’s lover played by Kubbra Sait], but with Subhadra, it is a relationship of dependence, care, and understanding – a marriage. She is in charge when it comes to just the two of them. Initially, she feels no love for him. But when she falls in love, there is a complete shift in their relationship. If you notice, in the bedroom, she is on top of him.”