Launch vehicle

I was cast in Sapna Babul Ka…Bidaai— a television show on Star Plus— for four months. The producer of the show,Rajan Shahi,recommended my name to the executive producer of Murder 2. At that time I didn’t even know the name of the film that I was to audition for! When I went to meet Mohit Suri,he told me that I fitted Reshma’s character profile perfectly. He gave me a choice: either I could audition for the role or he would watch some episodes of my TV show. I chose the former. Later Mohit asked me to mail my photos to an email id and that’s when I realised that I had auditioned for Murder 2,as the email id was murder2@gmail.com!

First shot

The first time I faced the camera was for my last scene in the film. And I shot for my opening scenes of Murder 2 at the end of my shooting schedule! Usually I’m quite nervous when I face the camera but this time around,I was very comfortable and did not feel pressurised. I guess that was because the team was very young and Mohit let me do what I wanted. He would ask me to improvise only if the scene was not right.

Stepping-stone

I have starred in television shows like Sapna Babul Ka…Bidaai,Amber Dhara and Do Saheliyaan. I attended theater workshops in the past and wanted to pursue it as a profession. But I never found the time. I have never been to any acting school as I don’t believe that it can be taught in a classroom. If you want to learn acting,go on a road trip –– the entire experience will teach you so many new things.

Stumbling-blocks

It was a challenge shooting for Murder 2. One scene needed me to crawl out of a tunnel in Film City,Mumbai and the opening of the tunnel was extremely small. Someone as slim as me also needed help to enter the tunnel. The entrance was blocked with mud and huge stones and I needed to scramble out of the tunnel making my way through those obstacles. The scene was shot over a few days and during that time,whenever I used to return home I had bruises and scratches all over my body.

Lessons learnt

I have grown as an actor. I have come to realise that it does not matter what role you play as we all have to return to our routine lives at the end of the day. But whatever I do,I plan to do it well.

Matinee idol

I have watched movies like Udaan and Shaitan and have thoroughly enjoyed both the films. I guess this is the novella age of Hindi cinema. I would like to work with Anurag Kashyap,Imtiaz Ali and Madhur Bhandarkar. Among actors,I think Ranbir Kapoor is fabulous. Hrithik Roshan,Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan are all role-models. I like Vidya Balan too,she is a great actor. But my all-time favourites are Waheeda Rehman and Dev Anand.

Future projects

I am delighted that my performance in Murder 2 was received well. I’m in talks with a couple of directors. I’m open to working with any filmmaker as long as the script interests me. I will continue doing films and do not plan to return to the small-screen anytime soon.