Grief may never fade, but a little sunshine always helps. Actor Patralekhaa realised it when she was mourning the loss of her father, but work came knocking at her door. Devastated with the loss her father in 2021 and with nowhere to go because of the pandemic, the actor found herself in a tricky place: everything felt hazy and going back to a set was the last thing on her mind. So, naturally, when she was approached to audition for the upcoming Disney+Hotstar series Aar Ya Paar, Patralekhaa shared with indianexpress.com that she turned down the request. View this post on Instagram A post shared by 🌸 Patralekhaa 🌸 (@patralekhaa) "The show came to me. I had just lost my dad. I was grieving. There was a pandemic, so we all were sitting at home, it was so blurry. Casting Bay called me up and said they want an audition. I said I am not in the mind space; it is not a great time so don't call me back. After a month they called me up and said, 'Are you ok to audition?' "I said no, I don't feel like it. But they were like the makers really want you to test for it, so just see where it goes. I thought I wasn't doing much at home, so let's just send the tape." The actor said she didn't think she would land the part as she wasn't even in the frame of mind "to want something." But after a week, the agency called her back and said she had bagged the role. "Having said that, it was like a ray of hope, I was looking forward to something. Something that would drift my mind off. It was emotionally daunting, but you can never turn grief into anything, it is always there, within you. Work helps you to divert your mind. So that's how it kind of helped me," she added. Created by Sidharth Sengupta, Aar Ya Paar also stars Aditya Rawal, Sumeet Vyas and Ashish Vidyarthi. According to the streamer, the action-drama series is set amidst misty hills and waterfalls nestled amongst the thick jungle trees of ‘Jagdalganj’, where the self-sustained and self-sufficient 'Degohaat' tribe resides. Patralekhaa isn't new to the streaming space, after having starred in projects like Bose:Dead/Alive, Forbidden Love and Badnaam Gali. The actor said streaming platforms have "generated a lot of work" for her and has helped escaped her getting slotted. "Now people are not trying to put me in a box. I had done City Lights, so I was getting only certain types of roles. As and when I did different roles, they tried to put me in that box. But with OTT, it is nothing like that. People are ready to experiment. The best part is, I get to work with phenomenal directors. "If they were making movies, then they would have to set up their projects, get people associated accordingly. That's where I felt I used to lose out on work, but on OTT, they don't think from that perspective. It is an open field," she added. Aar Ya Paar will premiere on Disney+Hotstar on December 30.
