EXCLUSIVE | Shriya Pilgaonkar: 'OTT gave me the opportunity to explore and discover things about myself'

Shriya Pilgaonkar had a sensational 2022 with hits like Guilty Minds on Amazon Prime Video and The Broken News on Zee5. She starts 2023 with Taaza Khabar that streams on Disney Plus Hotstar from January 6, 2023. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actress opens up on how her last year was and expectations from this one.

On 2022

Oh man. How many words can I use? (Laughs). It was an incredibly exciting and defining year for me, and certainly a year of immense progress. I feel this is a new phase in my career now; I’ve got so much love for my work that it’s made me more ambitious than I’ve ever been.

On Guilty Minds and The Broken News

I love the way these women were written. These women were written as strong and vulnerable, you see them in a holistic manner and not as caricatures. I also give immense credit to the writers and it makes me happy to have received so many messages, especially from aspiring lawyers and news reporters. To be able to create these characters by sinking your teeth into them is the best part of my job. OTT gave me that opportunity to completely explore myself and discover things about myself. It’s not every time you’re going to get characters like these. I also worked with directors were very wonderful so that also really helped.

On Taaza Khabar

I wanted to explore a different genre, a different look and character. I really like Madhu, her personality, the way she is, and despite her life full of hardships as a sex worker, she has a positive attitude. She’s also a strength for people around her, and this is a story that’s so poignant and fun, and people will be able to relate to it at so many levels. It’s the story about all of us, about dreams, about proving things to ourselves. I loved this concept of this Vardaan coming into Vasya’s life and how it changes things around them. When I listen to a script, I listen to it as an audience. The script itself is so much fun and so are the people, they all are wonderful.

On today’s comedies

It depends on the story. For me, Hera Pheri is one of the best comedies, but in the darkest of situations you can find humor. For instance, a show like Fleabag, it’s not entirely a comedy, there’s drama in it also. There’s so much humor in real life that good writing reflects in those aspects. Taaza Khabar is essentially a drama, but I describe it as a dramedy, a combination of drama and comedy. This is because the more reality hits you on your face, the more you find it funny. I can’t say there’s one particular genre that I enjoy more or less because everything depends on the script. Even an out-and-out slapstick comedy like No Entry is a film I really enjoyed. (Laughs) My father had directed one of the most iconic comedies of the Marathi industry called Ashi Hi Banwa Banwi. To get comedy right is very difficult.

On expectations from 2023

I hope the incredible energy and love of 2022 spills over to 2023. Of course, I’ll have season 2 of The Broken News that I’ll start filming and also Guilty Minds at some point of time. I’ve been shooting for an exciting film right now and another film called Ishq-E-Naadaan. I want to create a balance of work on OTT and films so I’m very excited.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.