On a Vishal Bhardwaj set, an actor needs to maintain that fine balance between thorough prep and spontaneity. Wamiqa Gabbi knows that all too well having worked with the filmmaker on his segment in Modern Love Mumbai (2022), Fursat, and the upcoming Khufiya.

But Gabbi says that shooting for their latest collaboration, Charlie Chopra, was all about homework. “I have never read scripts as many times as I read Charlie Chopra,” she recounts.

Her prep for the Sony LIV series—also starring Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Lara Dutta and Priyanshu Painyuli—kicked off last December, beginning with workshops along with theatre actor Daminee Benny Basu. Those, coupled with reading sessions with the director and cast, made her camera-ready when Bhardwaj took the mystery thriller on floors in March this year, in Manali.

Gabbi says, “All the reading sessions with Vishal sir and the team helped me understand the nuances of this world even more. Generally, you have questions about the character and situations, but here, I felt ready. It was like I knew everything.”

The first episode of the thriller, which is an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Sittaford Mystery, recently dropped online.