Actress Sayani Gupta, who has been rocking the OTT platforms, besides wooing her fans on social media, be it with her dancing, singing or costume designing skills recently revealed her voice-over expertise.
The actress lent her voice to an audio show ‘Buri Nazar’ on Audible, however, it was not her first time at lending voice to characters.
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She has been a pro at it right from her childhood. It’s one of her skills people aren’t aware of.
In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Sayani shared her journey as a voice-over artist.
“I have done a lot of audio work all my life. My father was part of the All India Radio. He was an announcer, music composer, singer and lyricist,” said the ‘Four More Shots!’ actor.
Sayani shared how her early childhood years were spent in the AIR studio. “AIR was a place where I was taken as a child and I spent a lot of time there. My first paid job was when I was 5 when I did a radio advertisement where I got paid Rs 500.”
‘Buri Nazar’, her latest, is the Hindi version of a much appreciated Audible Original ‘Evil Eye’ that is narrated by Sayani, Supriya Pathak and Ritvik Dhanjani.
Sayani plays the role of Pallavi, daughter of Supriya, while Ritivik is her fiance.
Talking about the storyline, Sayani said, “It’s a relatable banter between daughter and mother. I play the daughter, Pallavi, who lives in New York. Her mother is constantly coaxing her to marry. And Pallavi is fed up with her mother. Finally, Pallavi meets a guy with whom she falls in love.”
Sayani, shares she enjoys doing voice-overs. “I use to recite very long poems at live audio plays in front of audience. Audio performances have been part of my growing up years.”
The actress revealed she has done a lot of professional voice-overs. “I was the voice for Apple for 2 years. I did all their advertisements in India and South East Asia. It’s something that I enjoy thoroughly.
“I used to be able to enjoy voice modulation a lot, something that has helped me in acting in the later years. I think it’s all related and part of the bigger tree.”
Sayani has even lent her voice as a singer in ‘Kahab To’ in her film ‘Article 15’ opposite Ayushmaan Khurrana.
“As an actor, you are also continuously honing your voice, modulation skills, your control over your voice, etc. I have always believed that there is so much scope when you are working with your voice. You are working with your mind in this case. The microphone is literally your co-actor, your camera. It’s a medium that captures your every breath. It’s so powerful.
“It’s almost like you are making love to the mic. It’s really beautiful. I love it.”
In ‘Buri Nazar’ Sayani has expressed varied emotions through her voice. “It’s a long-distance mother-daughter call. There are lots of emotions, sometimes it’s light, and at times there is cacophony. There is also a supernatural element in it.”
Talking about evil eye in real life, the actress doesn’t believe in it so much. “I don’t really believe in evil eye. Sometimes I feel jinxed for small things. Like, sometimes I see myself and say that my skin is looking nice and then I will have a pimple. Sometimes after I laugh a lot I happen to cry a lot.
“I haven’t understood why people put Kajal on babies. I find that horrifying. Perfectly cute-looking babies look like monsters. People do it for Nazar. I think we Indians give it too much of importance. Sometimes my makeup artist would very sweetly put a kaala tikaa (black spot) behind my ear.”
However, the actor is cautious when it comes to her work. “If I get a project I don’t talk about it before we start shooting,” concluded Sayani.
