1) Tell us a little about yourself. How did you become an actor? did you always want to pursue actingor you had different plans!
As a kid, I always wanted to become a Tennis player. However, as I evolved, my dreams took a different shape altogether. I got roped into a play in one of my college fests and that was a turning point in my life. It made me realize that I could literally live the lives of so many characters and still be me! This excited me the most and after all these years, I can see it work out in my favour. The butterfly effect is at play here.
2) Tell us about your character in City of Dreams? How did you land this role? how did you prepare for the same?
We went through several rounds of auditions for COD2, first with Shruti mam’s team and finally with Nagesh sir himself before he locked me in for the part. He had told me I would need to gain 10-15 kilos for the character so that was my physical preparation. Tanya is so well written that all the masala was already there and with Nagesh sir’s clarity of mind that he has for his stories, he just knew how he wanted his Tanya to be. Then it was just amalgamating these ideas while following his instructions to the t, for me.
3) How was it working with Nagesh Kukunoor & Ankur Rathee?
I’ve always been a Nagesh Kukunoor fan, so for me, it was first an honour to be able to work with him. And when I finally did, I understood what makes him such a fine storyteller. Working with Nagesh sir has to be one of the best professional experiences I’ve had so far. There is so much to learn and absorb on his sets – from an amazing crew to the set design, to the script, everything reads out a passion for filmmaking. He has this undying focus and clarity of thought while working which I find extremely inspiring. He knows exactly what he wants from a scene, making the actor’s job very easy. People call directors the captain of the ship, and he truly was in every sense, the best captain one could start off on this journey with.
Ankur was actually the last person I met on the team. I didn’t know what to expect of him apart from a great performance, because I had only seen him onscreen. But I was surprised and how. Not only is he a very giving co-actor, but he is also a very entertaining person, a good friend and a person with varied knowledge who you can talk to about anything under the Sun. He is also extremely hard working having worked on almost 10 mainstream projects in the last 3 years. I really hope he gets the due he deserves soon.
4) You were also in movies like Baaghi 2 & Batti Gul Meter Chalu, could you tell us something about that? – The experience of working with such a huge cast and crew was amazing. These projects will always be special, watching myself on the big screen did make me happy and all jittery.
5) Any actor or director in Bollywood with whom you wish to work with?I want to work with all kinds of directors, Bollywood or not, since filmmaking is a director’s medium, and each one’s perspective is so so different from the other. I am at such a nascent stage in my career that I too am learning so much from each experience that I’m getting. So I think I would want to be able to play a character in the world that these directors create.
6? Since it’s a raging topic, what is your opinion about this “insiders versus outsiders” debate?
I feel that’s exactly what it is – a topic of debate. The biggest stars of the country are a combination of apparent insiders and outsiders. This debate can go on forever but acting, at the end of the day, is an art and art is subjective. Having been on the journey as an outsider but being perceived as an insider, I feel any artist would be discredited until they put across a strong point via their work, regardless of when they started their journey or where they came from.
7) Tell us about your future projects? As for now, I cannot talk much about it, I have been reading a few scripts and will make an announcement soon when I can.
-Team WS
