Deepali Singh (DNA; June 22, 2019)

Sayani Gupta has an interesting story to tell about how she was cast for her role of a Dalit girl in the Anubhav Sinha directorial Article 15, which is backed by Zee Studios. The actress shares that the director had liked her work in Jolly LLB 2 and the duo had been wanting to work with each other for a while. However, when he did call her for a role, she was supposed to be doing a Bengali film and didn’t have the required dates. “I was sitting in his office when I got to know that the Bengali movie is not happening and I told him that my dates have just been freed up!” she laughs.

While Anubhav did cast her in the social drama which also stars Ayushmann Khurrana, Sayani admits that the filmmaker was a little apprehensive about how she would carry off the look of a villager. Adding to the apprehension was the fact that the promotions of the web series Four More Shots Please! was going on, in which she has self-admittedly played her most glamorous role yet! “I showed him a clipping from Parched and he was like, ‘who’s this?’ Then the look test put all his doubts to rest,” she adds.

The script of Article 15 was what caught her attention and Sayani says she felt extremely overwhelmed to think that somebody was saying this story. “It’s an investigative drama which is also entertaining. It has everything required for a commercial film, but its politics is so correct. As actors, we are not only looking at the character we are playing, but also the story,” says the 33-year-old. For her own role,

Sayani says that while she has earlier played a girl from the rural quarters in Parched, this role is quite different. “It’s a beautifully written part — she is so strong. There is a lot that goes on in her life but she still holds her ground with extreme affirmativeness. I can’t do a part that’s not strong. Even if it’s a meek character, she has to have some semblance of wisdom or ethics I can relate to,” informs the actress who is currently shooting for the second season of Four More Shots Please!