Sandeepa Dhar says, “Its a subject which needs to be brought to the public, just like we talk about mental illness"

Sandeepa Dhar is a talented actor and one of the most popular names in the Indian digital entertainment industry today. Her debut film was Isi Life Mein, after this she never looked back. She is a trained dancer and continued her career in Bollywood, as she has done Dabangg 2, Heropanti and much more. Now her new web series is launched on Sony LIV Dr. Arora. Dr. Arora is Imtiaz Ali’s directorial and it has an impeccable cast Kumud Mishra, Vidya Malavade, Raj Arjun, Pitobash Tripathy, Sandeepa Dhar, Ajitesh Gupta, Shekhar Suman, Vivek Mushran.

Apart from the story what drove you to say yes to the project?

Two things one is Imtiaz Ali I think for any actor its there dream to work with Imtiaz and that was one of you know one of the biggest reasons for me to do the show Imtiaz. And second was I felt like its a subject which needs to be you know brought to the public. We need to talk about it just like the way we talk about mental illnesses now. I feel like this is the subject which is a taboo some how and humme iss ke baare me baat zarur karni chaiye. We need to start this conversation and I want to be part of that conversation some how. These two were you know major reasons for being part of Dr. Arora.

What kind of response you are getting from the social media?

Its fantastic yrr because I keep seeing memes now I think jab memes banti hai then you know that the show is being liked. So there were lot of you know they taken screenshots from the show and created memes around it which are hilarious. My director had sent me a couple and everyone you know even if you read the comments you know on my social media you will see a lot of people have sent they loved Mithu and you know they have founded it very endearing. And then they loved Tomar and Mithu’s entire track and we were hilarious. Everyone just kept talking how you know our come across has so fun because you know this is also the first time that I am doing you know like a comic role like this. So the response is been very encouraging actually. I think the time is very correct yeh shayad agar doo teen saal phele aya hota na I don’t think it would have been right the time and I feel like right now is correct time and Sony LIV is a perfect partner for a subject like this you know because they do tell stories of a heart line and they are good at it so I feel this entire combination works very well.

How your family and friends responded after watching the show?

Okay so my again my friends were tripping on some of my scenes and they were you know calling me up and laughing. There is a contract release scene I don’t know if you have watched the show but there is contract release scene which everyone seems to be loving and they are founding it hilarious. My parents again my parents didn’t know what the subject of the show was, I didn’t told them so for them it was a big surprise. So they were like taking a whack little bit but they enjoyed the show so you know that was very interesting. I purposely didn’t tell them because I didn’t want them to have any pre conceived motion but you know if any parent when you tell them that see this is what the subject is they might they could get little uncomfortable because we have grown up in that kind of environment. So its very natural so that why I didn’t told them, I told them to watch it because if I tell them ki you know intanzitive ko bhot sensitively bhot touching they might not understand it they are not from industry so I was like ap dekho agar apko agar apko uncomfortable lagta hai toh mat dekh na. But they watched the entire show and they loved it they loved I mean they obviously couldn’t stop praising Kumud ji and the music, they loved the music so much. Everyone everybody is been talking about Mehram and Bewafa Mashooqa, khaalipan. So absolutely you know I haven’t got a single negative you know review for my work in the show because very surprisingly I have the most critical friends who watch stuff and you know they take out every galti possible. So but this time luckily I got saved and they loved you known my track unsad story(laughs).

This is the new story and concept, so you think that sex issues are still problem in India that people are still not open to it?

I would agree it is you know its very surprising that sex bol ne me bhi humme itni hichkicahaat hoti hai. Aur srif esa nahi hai ki yeh chote shahro me hai it is a problem that is there throughout whether you are in metro cities or whether you are in small town. I don’t know why we have this so much embarrassment attached to the word sex jab ki I think know we are most populous country in the world. We have even crossed China so we producing more number of children but we don’t want to state word sex. Infact I remember I was reading I was reading you know an article by a very prominent newspaper and instead of the word sex they used intercourse. And I was very baffled by it ki ap you don’t want to use the word sex but you have used intercourse instead. So I feel like its not even you can’t even blam ki log you know people who are not educated have this mentality. No I feel like it is a it is a problem that you know the entire country suffers from and hence I feel that why this you know this subject of the show is so acts right now because we have if we unless and unless talk about how do you excepted to become normal. I remember you know when initially if someone used to wear a swimming you know swim suit in a film it used to be like such a big thing ki kitni bold hai yeh actress ki iss ne swim suit phena hai. Now we will talk about it now its become so normal because you introduced it to people and now people are got used to it. Even the kiss scenes for an extent earlier people used to be make such a big deal about kiss scenes and now its like any other thing. I feel like similarly hopefully you know talking about sex and talking about sexual problems will eventually become like this. ki abhi toh sab kher sabko itna you know itna bada reaction ata hai inn sab cheezo ko leke but hopefully the more we talk about it hopefully more you know we need to make more shows like this. Taki people you know it needs to be normalized and it will be only normalized when we talk about it or make show about it. Infact bhot sare ese he hai you know infact I got tagged to lot of these you know accounts which are making you know reviewing it, talking about it and infact they themselves are saying that you know there are certain you know subjects that have been handled in the web series which thank god someone is talking about it. And it is important to talk about then.

The tag line in the trailer “Jab tak gupt rahega tab tak rog rahega”, what do you want to say about this?

Its so correct because it’s the summary of the show ki jab tak ap iske baare me baat nahi karoge tab tak yeh kese normalize hoga tab tak yeh humesha ek taboo he rahega na. And thats what I know for a lot of people even after watch the show they might be like yeh kya hai. So its so embarrassing and how can you make a show on this but you know to be honest whenever something like this happens, the initial reactions are always medioks reaction ki humesha vo apko phele phele thoda ajeeb lage ga. Ap you are not comfortable with it because you are not are not grown up talking about sex openly. Everyone has always made it sound like something that we are not supposed to talk about it, these are very private things, it’s a very chee chee kind of topic. So obviously there are people who are going to react like that and its very normal. So I hope I really hope Dr. Arora becomes you know a example where in other people can out starting make more you know stories and shows on similar subjects so that so that there doesn’t fear anymore you know what I mean.

What traits from your character and Dr. Arora’s character you want to imbibe in yourself?

Oh there are so many you know he is so non- judgemental in a way and yet he is judgemental there his self realizations happens very organically. Which is very interesting and the way he explains things to people. There is certain amount of theraav in Dr. Arora which is beautiful, which I hope someday I you know I get and he looks at people’s problems as his own like there is certain sense of okay I understand what you are going through and I will solve it trust me and have fate in me. And I feel like that’s the great quality to have and I do that you know that kind of personality treat, I kind of develop over a period of time. Its not like Dr. Arora doesn’t have flaws I think you know they have shown some of his flaws which is well so nice.  Because ap ek esa character nahi dekha rahe ho jo ki bass buri buri hai aur koi you know baghwan hai. Dr. Arora has also flaws and they have shown it and he realizes those flaws and you know he takes action in order to change that, so I think that’s the great quality because there are always things about us which are not so great. But for us to realize it and then change it is the most important thing. So I feel like these are very interesting things that Dr. Arora has and I really like.

My character(laughs) I think there is a sense of abandonment in in Mithu there is she is not she has no like there is filter of screen in her head. There is certain amount of nayevity and the way she you know supports her husband you know not once do you she will make it look like its his problem. She has made it a problem of her own in the sense that she is like we are in this marriage now jo tumhari problem hai ab vo meri problem bhi hai ab hum isko slove karege aur hum 50 50 partners hai iss me. Toh ab sath milke karege and I feel like that is such a beautiful quality na and I wish I have a you know a marriage life like Mithu in a way. Like she is a complete partner in her marriage she doesn’t she doesn’t thing make him feel you know it is a it’s a very sensitive thing for a if a guy is not able to perform sexually and if in any way the women makes him feel you are not a man enough it can shatter a confidence of the guy and ofcourse it can shatter the marriage also because these are very very sensitive issues. But I feel like the way Mithu has handled the issue is so bloody good. And it kind of shows the kind of individual that is she in this marriage. And she also takes care of his reputation also she calls him home you know she calls the doctor home whatever the problems are. She is trying to remover this in a very you know mature and in a very sensitive manner.

What are your upcoming projects?

There will be very interesting things that I can’t talk about it because I don’t like to talk about it unless an until something comes out. Like Dr. Arora I also didn’t talk about it until an unless something was out, so once we will make a you know official announcement then I will talk about it. but I have some interesting series that are in the pipeline.

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