Shruti Sharma on working with Sanya Malhotra in Pagglait, stereotypes around TV actors and more

Shruti Sharma has been fairing extremely well for herself given the range of shows she has been working on. While she has done a handful of shows like Gattbandhan, Nazar 2, among others, she made her Bollywood debut with Pagglait. The actress got talking to us about the debut, the character, shooting with Sanya, and more.

Read our exclusive conversation with the actress here.

How overwhelming is it to make a Bollywood debut with a film on Netflix?

> It surely feels great, I am happy that I get to be a part of a film irrespective of any medium. This was never planned and as they say unplanned things turn out to be great, and this is the biggest example of the same.

How much do you relate to your character, if at all you do?

It depends because my character Nazia Zaidi is a follower despite being independent in reel life. She always looks up to Sandhya whenever she falls into trouble. Whereas I am very headstrong and opinionated in real life.

Tell us about shooting with Sanya Malhotra?

Shooting with Sanya was fun. She is such an easy actress to work with! Also, she is extremely engrossed in her scenes but off-camera she is a very gentle human being from whom I have learned a lot.

The transition from TV to Bollywood/OTT is often treated as a huge deal, which is in its own plight. But what do you often say that acting is beyond its medium, having been a part of both, do you feel things have changed?

For me, I just wanted to be an actor that's it. I never came to Mumbai with a dream of doing a Bollywood film! It just eventually fell into place. For me, the medium was never a matter of concern. For an actor, his execution of craft is of the foremost importance.

TV actors are often stereotyped, do you feel there's a need to take steps towards the same?

I don't think so, I have been a part of some great shows in the past and they all were different. I got to show so many different layers of mine in all of them. Getting stereotyped is perhaps fading away slowly.

Pagglait deals with various aspects of women, and grief, as seen in the trailer. Tell us your opinion about it?

As you said, it ditches the norm of a widow 'has to' cry for her husband. Why? Have you ever tried to assess their relationship? Were they happy and compatible with each other or no? And all these are unnecessary compulsions made on women which are nonetheless forced regulations.

Pagglait is now streaming on Netflix and has managed to garner rave reviews so far.