New Delhi: Actress Anushka Kaushik, who is known for her performance in projects like ‘Ghar Waapsi’, ‘Thar’, and ‘Crash Course’, shared her experience of working with director Tigmanshu Dhulia, how different are her roles in ‘Garmi’ and ‘Patna Shukla’ and her struggles in the entertainment industry.
She said: “The special part about ‘Garmi’ is that this show not only talks about the fun and frolic side of hostel life, but also darker side of politics and how innocent lives get entangled in it, knowingly or unknowingly. Tigmanshu Dhulia sir is an institution and I feel, for every actor, it’s important to go through an experience of working with him. What I love about him is that even though each actor brings their own interpretations of a scene, the way he binds it all together is just amazing. Even when I didn’t have my scenes, I would sit with him just to observe his craft of doing that amalgamation.”
Anushka further added: “Also, whenever you ask him any question, he will stare you for three-four seconds which will make you question if you have asked something illogical. But after some time, he will answer it so logically and patiently that it will make you wonder if it was always that easy.”
On speaking about her back to back releases including, ‘Garmi’ and ‘Patna Shukla’, and how different are her characters in both of her projects, she told IANS: “They are both very different roles and even their set up is very different. ‘Garmi’ is set in Allahabad whereas ‘Patna Shukla’ is set in Patna. It is a huge mistake that people club UP-Bihar together. They are very different places in each and every term. “
“In ‘Patna Shukla’, my character is from a lower class strata which isn’t the case in ‘Garmi’, so the background of both the characters is very different. My character in ‘Garmi’ is very outspoken, on the face whereas in ‘Patna Shukla’ I play a girl who is put under a lot of pressure by society’s norms, but how she fights that and finds a voice of her own makes for a beautiful journey.”
For Anushka, her struggle in the industry was not only to establish herself, but she also had to convince herself to become an actress as she belongs to a family of doctors and engineers.
She shared: “Coming from Saharanpur, from a family where everyone is a doctor or an engineer, the first struggle was to convince myself. The industry looks so fancy from the outside, so you question whether you’d be able to fit in it, both professionally and personally. Will you be able to find peace in life? So, to first make yourself understood and then your parents was the first struggle.”
“Then to first move to Delhi and then to Mumbai was a struggle of its own. But fortunately, my journey has been quite good because the kind of people I have encountered in my life have been gems. And I can say proudly that the industry is a good and safe place for women if you are ready to take on the long journey and not succumb to any shortcuts,” she added.
Briefing about her upcoming projects, she concluded: “There is an anthology that I am doing for Netflix. I am a part of a second season of a project whose first one was a huge success. I can’t say more about it right now. Then I have Arbaaz Khan Productions’ ‘Patna Shukla’ and then there is another feature film that I have done for Maddock Films.”
–IANS