Actress Sayani Gupta, who was recently seen in Posham Pa and Article 15, says that directing a film is her long-cherished dream.
“I wish to direct a film sometime soon. At FTII, film and acting were my specialisation areas. Even when I read a script, I think about it from a storyteller’s point of view and not just as an actor. So directing a film is a dream that I surely want to peruse. Perhaps that is why I constantly give suggestion to the art director and talk to my makeup artist to create a look,” Sayani told IANS.
The actress is receiving praise for her performance in the film Posham Pa, and is occupied shooting for the web series, Four More Shots Please!: Season 2.
In Posham Pa, which released on the OTT platform ZEE5, she plays a serial killer and sports a semi-bald look.
“I think the look of the character is an important part of the character building. The character I play in Posham Pa looks a certain way and her final look – in jail – is a reflection of what kind of situation she has gone through in life that made her age faster. She is semi-bald but just 27 years old,” she said.
According to Sayani, the prosthetic makeup would take four hours.
“With the look, I slowly get into the body language (of the character) and that is why appearance is crucial for me to become the character I portray in every film – be it Jolly LLB2, Article 15 or Posham Pa,” she said.
Over the past few years, she has appeared in feature films like Parched, Fan, The Hungry, Jolly LLB 2 and short films such as Shame, Detour, Red Velvet, and Shameless.
Sayani has also appeared in web series like Inside Edge, Kaushiki, Four More Shots Please!.
She has been working constantly and is now looking for a small vacation to rejuvenate herself.
She said that being an outsider, life has been good to her so far in Mumbai.
“I think my great problem is not having time for myself as I have not taken a break over the last two years! After completing my course Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). I started working in films and ad-films quite quickly. If I look at my journey, I have no complaint because when I was not doing films I was doing theatre, I did 17 short films, and that is how I kept myself busy. As long as I am part of good stories, I am happy,” said the actress who has played pivotal roles in many films and shows, though not all of them are lead.
Sayani believes the entire conversation about lead roles and character roles is wrong.
“There are women playing the lead part, present in every frame of a film but not doing much as performers. They are just present there. There is not much of a graph in the character, and nobody questions that. Then why do people question us, who play proper roles, about less screen time?” she said.
“The contribution of an actor in a story comes from the impact of the character right?” asked Sayani who played a Dalit girl in the film Article 15.
So, does she holds political opinion strongly as an actor? “I have a political stand on things and there are many times when I am quite vocal about it, though not all the time these days. I reserve my opinion at times because these days in media, things get misconstrued. Having said that, I believe that artistes should have a political opinion because art stems from there,” she said.