From “Mississippi Masala” to “Homeland” to Carrie Bradshaw’s land, Sarita Choudhury has lived an exciting and diverse life on screen. Choudhury plays Seema, one of Carrie Bradshaw’s closest friends on “And Just Like That,” and Seema shines as one of the strongest characters on the “Sex and the City” sequel. In fact, it’s hard to remember the city without Seema.
IndieWire sat down with Choudhury to discuss season 3 — all things, sex, Seema, dating, love, Carrie, Aidan, and of course, the only city that matters, New York! Choudhury opens about her co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Nicole Ari Parker.
And she also weighs in on comparisons between Seema and Samantha Jones, Kim Cattrall’s longtime “Sex and the City” missing-in-action mainstay (she reveals whether Samantha and Seema would get along). Choudhury also confesses the big risk she took for her “AJLT” Zoom audition that probably got her the role. She also dishes out important dating advice for Carrie Bradshaw that might involve cooking.
Read the conversation below to find out why Choudhury channeled “Indian Matchmaker” this season and what she really thinks about Carrie waiting 5 years for Aidan. It may surprise you.
The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
IndieWire: I binged the first few episodes of this season and they’re so enjoyable. The first two seasons, there were a lot adjustments and cringe moments. I didn’t feel that once this season! When did you first watch “Sex and the City”?
Sarita Choudhury: I didn’t watch when it first aired. 25 years ago? I don’t even know what country I was in, definitely didn’t have a TV or HBO. Only rich people had HBO. Then maybe 10 years ago, I was in Italy one summer. It came on at 11 at night. I had a young kid. I started to watch it every night. So, I binge watched it in Italian.
You speak fluent Italian?
It’s not because I’m a genius. I grew up there. It would be weird if I didn’t speak Italian. I got addicted to “SATC” really late in the game.
Who did you identify with the most?
For me, Carrie was the through line. With Samantha, I got the courage, but wasn’t in extreme situations. Carrie’s storylines were convoluted, and they were resolved in a convoluted way. And I like that.
What was your audition like?
It was a Zoom audition. Tough. Each scene had a lot of props. It’s tricky to use props, because if it goes wrong… I decided to go for it, I had 8 props. A coffee, lipstick, hat, glasses, cigarette, and a purse. Can’t recall the other two. You can’t sit with them in front of you. At one point, I got up, left the screen to get something. I thought, “This is a dangerous decision.” In this show, the costumes and props were also a protagonist. They’re as important as what I was saying.
That’s why you got it! When you first came on, was there a hope that you’d replace Samantha?
I never thought that! Any comparisons to Samantha came after it was airing. When I’d hear that, I’d say, “Oh?!” When we film, there’s no noise from the outside. You’re just trying to make sure you don’t ruin the show. I was loving the fact that they hired an Indian woman, Seema was a strong character, all these thoughts. I was just trying to fulfill it.
Would Samantha and Seema get along?
Wow. I’m realizing how not similar they are. They’d watch each other, but I don’t know how it would meld. I think maybe in humor, they might, but not necessarily in anything else.
I’m Team Seema, sorry, Samantha! Describe Seema’s arc this season.
Two major things change in Seema’s life, because of circumstances. It’s fun to watch her navigate. When change happens in your life, you don’t know it’s happening. So how you navigate it can be very messy. Watching that mess, and then what happens when it has changed. Who are you now? I had a lot of fun this season.
Seema, in her mid-fifites, goes through kind of a reset.
I think when she resets, she’s not fully confident that it’s right, but she’s so used to making decisions. For her, making a decision is more important than it being right.
To quote Rihanna, will Seema “find love in a hopeless place,” aka New York City?
I realized that for someone who is known for dating a lot, giving advice that’s, “Move along,” she’s actually looking for love. Season 2 ends with Ravi in Egypt. Now it’s a long-distance relationship. Seema spends her life on Zoom calls.
Ravi and Seema’s relationship is the Zoom audition.
Exactly! She actually really wants love. For Seema, love means coming home to someone. For someone who sells houses and is always outside, you never really get a sense of, does Seema cook? What’s in her fridge? You never see it. I think that’s what she wants, is to not go out.
She sells homes to people, yet you don’t know if she has her own home.
Yes! I think she wants to create that.
What dating advice would you give Seema?
Oh, I would take advice from her. You know when other people think you’re confident and ballsy, but you don’t see yourself that way. I’d like to move more at her pace. I’m more of a “let’s drag it on for another year, just in case.” She’s not like that, I need to do that.
So, Seema’s your inspiration? In a certain new episode, she really owns dating. Every time I watch this show, I think, “Am I not having enough sex in my life?” I hope my mother doesn’t read this. I have to take this out of the interview.
I like how you’re protecting yourself! You’re going to leave me with my answers out there alone with my family. I wouldn’t call Seema my inspiration, because she doesn’t exist.
Wow. And just like that, Seema’s gone. This season, Seema gets a little matchmaking help. You’ve watched “Indian Matchmaker”? Imagine if Seema Aunty was Seema’s matchmaker?
Oh, my God! [Laughs] I thought about that show constantly when we were doing that whole segment. But for me, that would be the scariest thing! I would never. I don’t even know what a dating app is.
Next time I see you, I’m going to put you on my Bumble.
What! [panicked] You’re putting me on Bumble!
I’m not going to put YOU on Bumble! You’ll run my Bumble. Swipe left, right, talk to these very questionable men. It’s actually traumatic, to be honest
I’m sure it is!
Carrie and Aidan: Would Sarita wait 5 years for someone?
I love anything that’s controversial. I immediately get excited. I am exactly that person. Some of my friends say, “You are Dostoevsky-level of waiting.” It would be embarrassing to describe what I’m capable of in old-fashioned behavior. I completely get it. This season deals with it beautifully.
How would you describe Carrie’s dating life, from “Sex and the City” to now? I sometimes want to tell Carrie there’s more than these two men in the world.
I’m completely that person. People say, “Sweetheart, wake up!” I’m like, “Why should I wake up?” I don’t understand what people are sending me to!
What is Seema’s take on Carrie and Aidan?
Oh, she does not approve. She loves Carrie. She likes Aidan. She understands the need for Carrie to go through this. But no. Would never understand that timeline.
If you were Carrie Bradshaw’s “Indian Matchmaker,” what are the first 3 things you’d have her do?
This is sad, I’m so bad at matchmaking. My answers are boring, like read “Anna Karenina.” Useless.
That’s pretty good. Keep going, I want this chaotic relationship advice.
OK, two is “enjoy cooking.”
Does Carrie cook?
No. Remember, she kept her shoes in the oven. When I say, “enjoy,” I mean to fall in love, you really have to enjoy everything you do.
That’s great advice. It was much deeper. I got stuck on the stove and the kitchen of it all.
And three, “keep the high heels on!”
Seema’s advice for Carrie?
She’d say not to think so much. But it’s why we love Carrie, she’s our inner thoughts.
This show is ultimately a love story between the women, a homage to friendship. Who are the women in your life who support you?
I have friends from every phase of life, which is important, even when I don’t see them as much. I have four friends from the last 20 years, whether it’s Lorena, Poorna (Jagannathan) or Isabel. I go to them purposely when I don’t want to get told off for something. I know who’ll support me.
Poorna said you give unique but confusing advice, like “What would Mick Jagger do?”
That’s so what Poorna would say. I’m wasted on her. First of all, it changes. Sometimes, it’s Jimi Hendrix. You know when you know your friend is brilliant, but they’re telling you a situation that seems smaller than their brilliance? So, you need a big, whoosh of a strut! Mick Jagger has problems too, but he struts onto that stage.
She said almost every scene she’s done in her career, you’ve read with her.
It’s unusual to have someone who you trust, is good at what they do, funny, and you can read with them. People often say, “You guys are not at all competitive.” Then I think, “Why are you saying that? Just because we’re Indian? You wouldn’t say that to two white people in the same way.”
Probably because in America, this industry is predominantly white — and Indians, we’re sometimes pitted against each other.
Yes, because there’s only one role. Poorna and I truly don’t feel that competition.
What do you love about working with Sarah Jessica, Cynthia, Kristin, and Nicole?
They’re the easiest people I’ve ever worked with. I love that we’re all the same age. I’ve never had that. In your fifties, you don’t get to go to camp where the other people you play with are the same age. It’s so much fun. You can joke in a way that you’re so used to other people not getting, so there’s an ease we have.
We need perimenopause summer camps — with air conditioning.
[Laughs] There are no camps for anything for women! I feel so lucky. I only really act with Sarah Jessica. Sometimes group scenes. They’re oddly regular gals. Everyone’s so different from the other. There’s a kindness and a generosity. Those are the actors who make it. It’s long hours, you’re either kind or you have a charisma that’s so out of bounds that you’re worth it. They’re New York City girls. Totally unpretentious.
Are Carrie and Seema temporary friends or do they have the longevity of lifelong friends?
If you’d asked me in season 1, I wouldn’t know. I now know. It’s not temporary. Once you confess certain things, or watch the calamity of certain situations, that’s it. We’ve been through enough, especially this season. It would be complete heartbreak (if they weren’t lifelong).
Like Seema, you exude confidence and strength, what makes Sarita nervous?
I was definitely nervous entering this show. I’m low-key, only dress up when I have to. I wasn’t sure I could pull off scenes with that level of chic and heels. I was nervous in Season 1, and now I’m not. I enjoy that stuff so much on the show.
Do you get called Seema in public?
What shocks me the most and moves me is there are so many young, white American girls, who are like, “Are you Sarita Choudhury?” And I’m like, “What?! How do you know that?”
They say your real name and pronounce correctly?
Yes! They probably are so shocked by my reaction, because they don’t know that I’m reacting to them saying my name. That to me, is the most you know… [smiles].
Finally, is there a great love for Seema, or do you think she’s better being single?
I don’t think anyone is better being single, meaning that word. Like I said, you have to love cooking.
That’s the best advice. Enjoy cooking. And that’s what Seema does.
I so love that you understood that immediately.
Well, at first I did think that you wanted Carrie to cook a meal.
But you got there.
“And Just Like That” Season 3 is now streaming on Max. The 12-episode season concludes August 14.
