Saiyami Kher doesn’t believe in rushing into things and that’s evident from how she takes her own time in taking up work. She started off in Bollywood with Mirzya (2016), and since then, has starred in five projects — three films, two web shows.

Not sticking to Hindi films was a decision that happened organically. “When I started off, I didn’t know anything. The first step was to learn the basics of being in front of the camera. After long, tedious three years of giving auditions, Mirzya happened. Unfortunately, it didn’t do well at the box office,” she shares. And that led to a not-so-great ripple effect. She confesses, “I had signed a few films with big filmmakers, but after Mirzya, they decided to go ahead with someone else, who was commercially more successful.”

But, Kher didn’t let anything deter her. She starred opposite Riteish Deshmukh in the Marathi hit Mauli, and then web shows Special OPS and Breathe - Into The Shadows. Her web film, Choked, also got good reviews. In fact, the actor reveals that Choked’s director Anurag Kashyap was going to collaborate with her earlier as well, on a different project. “After Mirzya, Anurag wanted to do a film with me, and sent a script. I was very excited, but it never took off. I was also doing a Tamil film and had done workshops, that also never took off. It was a low phase, my film hadn’t worked, and the few things I signed, went away. Mauli was exciting... a hardcore commercial film, and at the same time, the girl had a lot to do. Things started moving a bit after that,” she says.

Unpaused, an anthology of five short films with pandemic as the theme, featured Kher as the protagonist in one of the stories. “I’ve just returned from Manali after shooting with Nagarjuna sir for an action-packed film; I play a RAW agent,” gushes Kher about being busy with work now.