Ishita Dutta, who started her career as a TV actress and continues to be a part of the entertainment industry, says that the first instalment of Drishyam (2015) changed a lot for her as an artiste. The actress, who will now feature in the sequel Drishyam 2, helmed by Abhishek Pathak, also starring Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Akshaye Khanna, elaborates on her experience of working with Ajay Devgn, how she still believes in TV as a medium and the kind of offers she wants to take on going ahead. Read on...

The first instalment of Drishyam marked my debut in Hindi cinema. I was quite young then and had just done one TV show (Ek Ghar Banaunga). The film opened many doors for me, and people recognized me as an actor because of it. I am glad that I bagged the film because it changed a lot for me as an artiste. I had not seen the Malayalam version of the film while shooting for it. In fact, my director (Nishikant Kamat) told me not to watch it because they wanted me to bring my own take on the character. While people do recognize me for my characters in TV shows, Drishyam has earned pan-India recognition. No matter what they say about TV and the web, films have a different feel to them, in terms of how the audience perceives you. I am very happy with the journey so far and I hope it continues the same way.

It has progressed a lot. In the previous film, something traumatic happened to Anju. Seven years later, the audience will see how the incident has impacted her. She isn’t stable and suffers from fits and nightmares. She needs medical help and her father (played by Ajay Devgn) tries his best to protect her even more. As a character, that’s been a major shift. It was quite challenging personally. I had to perform a scene in which I suffered from an episode of convulsion and Abhishek (Pathak, the director) told me that it was probably the most important scene for me and had to look natural. Making that scene look as real as possible was quite challenging. I watched a lot of videos and did workshops to get it right.

During the first film, I was obviously intimidated by Ajay sir. I couldn’t have just walked up to him and interacted. Coming from a small town like Jamshedpur, one tends to be in awe of every actor. When I saw Ajay sir, I couldn’t even bring myself to look at him. I was that scared, but he is so sweet and easy to work with. He makes you feel comfortable despite being such a big star. That’s why the father-daughter bond came out so well in the film. I think a lot of credit for that goes to him.

I had decided that I would choose the best from what I was offered, irrespective of the medium. So, I tend to take up a project that helps my growth as an actor. I got a lot of film offers, but they were very similar to what I was doing. I am glad I didn’t take up just any role as that wouldn’t have made any difference to my career. While acting on TV, I realized that I was liking the process and got to learn immensely at the same time. In fact, I will take up a good project, be it on TV, the web or film, instead of waiting for something extraordinary to fall into my lap. I like being busy, so I would not want to wait for that perfect opportunity. I believe in taking up the best from what is being offered to me and moving ahead.

A lot of people warned me against starting my career with TV. I was told that my sister (Tanushree Dutta) was already a part of Bollywood, so I should wait and start with films. However, she said that I should learn rather than wait for something that may not happen. I am glad about the choices I have made. Had I not done TV, I wouldn’t have been prepared for Drishyam. No other medium can teach the things that TV teaches you. I didn’t even know how to face the camera or deliver dialogues. A year-and-a-half later, if I could play the part where I was five years younger than my original age in Drishyam, it was because of my learnings while shooting for a TV show. People also told me that I wouldn’t be able to make a transition from TV to films because we didn’t have any examples to quote. I don’t differentiate between mediums. While I love doing movies, I will continue to dabble in TV. I feel people should give it a little more credit and not demean it, especially not in 2022 when you have seen big actors taking up TV shows and small-screen actors going on to do films. Actors should focus on the craft more than the medium.