Rasika Dugal doesn’t want her fame to come in the way of choosing her projects. With a chock-a-block schedule like hers, she took out time for a short film, The Miniaturist Of Junagadh, and completed shooting in two days, flat.

“I don’t know of actors who shy away from doing short films because it isn’t a big format. The biggest example is Naseer saab (actor Naseeruddin Shah). He has such a body of work, and he was excited, it clearly shows he is devoted to what he does. He doesn’t need to do a short film, but he’s excited. Who am I to think I am bigger than a short film?,” she quips.

The 37-year-old, in the midst of prepping and shooting for Mirzapur 3, adds that one shouldn’t take this to be an easy format to shoot though. She explains, “The good thing is short films are not huge commitments in terms of time. But it was a very hectic shoot. I was really struggling to finish it. We had four days for it, not out of choice, but budget. As the time for shooting is less, you have to go into a short film prepared. There is no time to fumble on shoot, you can’t be sitting and rehearsing, wasting time, or figuring things out.”

The details too need to be looked into closely. “I am up for all this. Time-wise, you don’t have that luxury, so in that sense you have to put in time before shoot also. I somehow managed,” she says.