AS far as the leading female character’s treatment in a web-series is considered, Dahaad goes beyond paying the perfunctory lip-service about telling a woman-centric story. Not only the show let’s Sonakshi Sinha‘s character Anjali Bhaati, a sub-inspector in Rajasthan’s Mandawa police station, articulate her rage and reactions against patriarchal ways but also makes her an equal among her male colleagues notwithstanding their rank. Apart from fighting crime, she is up against deep-seated caste abuse and discrimination prevalent in wide swathes of rural India.
There is a noticeable shift in the actor’s approach in Dahaad, which was released on Prime Video last month and marks Sinha’s debut on a streamer. Her body language as a judo champion and bullet-riding cop is effortless, real and understated. “For some years now, I have been seeking out roles that make me feel empowered as an actor and woman. It started with Akira (2016) in which I played a power-packed titular role,” recounts Sinha. Since her choice of off-beat characters and films connected with the audience, it gave Sinha “the strength to shoulder such films” on her own.
Sinha has one guiding principle while picking her projects. “Whenever I take up a film, I want my character’s story to be heard. That desire has steered my selection of movies — be it Noor (2017) or Khandaani Shafakhana (2019). It is always up to the audience how they accept me in these roles. My endeavour, however, will always be to give my best,” says the actor, who recently moved into a new house in Mumbai, overlooking the Bandra-Worli sea-link. However, she counts working with a team led by three women – the cop drama is created by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar, and directed by Kagti along with Ruchika Oberoi – as one of her “best experiences”.
Sinha believes that while each of her recent roles are different, they share one common factor: “they are all strong women”. What floored the actor when she heard the narration of Dahaad is the way the character of Anjali is written and how determined she is. “The fact that she uses her feminine qualities in a man’s world was fascinating while her everyday struggles were relatable,” says the actor, whose debut opposite Salman Khan in Dabangg (2010) was a major commercial success.
While essaying the role of Anjali, writer-director Kagti asked Sinha to keep her approach “straight” and not to tap into any masculine side of hers. “Anjali is good at her job and she is someone who doesn’t hesitate to go after what she wants,” says Sinha. The Dahaad writers had imbued her role with an agency to reflect the growing reality of independent women in a cut-throat male-dominated profession.
Anjali’s role required a lot of work. Sinha had to be trained in judo for a couple of months as well as learn to ride a bike. She also had to learn the Rajasthani dialect. “It was a challenge to be in sync with everyone when it came to the dialect. But we helped each other,” she recalls.
Browsing through the social media posts of her co-actors – Gulshan Devaiah, Sohum Shah and Vijay Varma – one gets the feeling that they had a lot of fun on the sets. “The camaraderie developed during the shoot since we were isolated due to the lockdown. This helped create a great atmosphere on the sets. We used to improvise and help each other. It was truly a pleasure to work in such a setup,” says Sinha.
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In fact, Dahaad’s shooting in Rajasthan was disrupted when the pandemic swept the world. The cast returned to the sets after a year. “Before our shooting resumed, I went to the Tiger Baby office and watched the rushes. When I went back to the shoot, with everyone around, it became easy to get it (the nuances of the role) back,” says Sinha, who is mostly seen in uniforms throughout the show.
After a career spanning 12 years, Sinha is happy the way her cinematic journey has panned out. “I focus on doing my job instead of worrying about the audience reaction. I look at every new project as my first. That has kept me going. Today, great content is created and good parts are written for women,” says Sinha. Instead of putting herself in a box, she aspires to be that actor who can inspire the confidence in makers of a film or series that she can be part of any genre.
“I was fortunate that my debut film Dabangg was such a massive commercial success. After that people looked at me as a bankable mainstream heroine and offered me those kinds of films (Rowdy Rathore (2012) and R… Rajkumar (2013)). Honestly, I love that kind of film myself,” Sinha says. Her sophomore outing, Vikramaditya Motwane-directed Lootera (2013), however, was not a box-office success. Yet, that’s the film, she tells us, that has got her maximum respect as an actor.
One of the biggest takeaways for Sinha from the sets of Dahaad has been learning to ride a bullet. “It is exhilarating to ride a bike. This is something I would not have learned had it not been for the role.” The actor, who is now a proud owner of a bullet, occasionally takes the vehicle out at night and travels to south Mumbai with her friends. Much to her surprise, once she was recognised by a family travelling in a car when she stopped at a traffic signal and a request for a photograph was followed.
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Up for new challenges, Sinha seems to be on the right track.
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June 18, 2023 at 09:23AM
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Sonakshi Sinha: ‘I want my character’s story to be heard’ - The Indian Express
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