Actor Amruta Subhash had an interesting 2021 with two releases. In the OTT show, Bombay Begums, she played a bar dancer, while the film Dhamaka, which released last month, saw her essaying the part of a no-nonsense news editor. “I am grateful. It has always been my dream to not be slotted into a particular kind of role. We keep saying that we want to do different kinds of roles but that depends on a lot of factors,” she says.

Dhamaka, particularly, was a tough act for Subhash, as it required her to tread into an unknown territory. She shares, “I credit my casting director Abhimanyu Ray for thinking out of the box and visualising me as Ankita (her character). I was excited because her mind, look and body language are completely different from mine. I was so tempted to play her. Unlike my other roles, I had no idea where this character came from. I didn’t know her at all.”

But the 42-year-old actor adds that she was “pleasantly surprised” during the look test after glamming up in the film for the first time. “I didn’t want to wear a saree, because I wore sarees in many films, but when I draped one, it added more weightage to my character,” she says, asserting that look tests are extremely important to her, as they help her “grasp the first note about a character” and that’s why she didn’t hesitate when asked to chop her hair short.

While many referred to her character in the film as a villain, Subhash reveals that she wishes to play an out-and-out antagonist someday. “Even when I’m playing a villain, I’ll keep her as human as possible. Every human being has reasons for the way they behave, but we tend to look at their actions and not journeys. Right and wrong is relative. I might not think like a character, but I won’t judge her by comparing her to my values,” she ends.