Shalini Pandey is currently revelling in the love she is receiving for her role in the web series, Dabba Cartel.

Ask about navigating the genre of crime with a largely female cast and the actor calls the experience “liberating”. “So many women in small towns and rural areas are trying to free themselves from the moral aspects of society. To see them taking charge and not being victims is absolutely liberating,” she says.

After playing a strong female character, would she take on her debut film Arjun Reddy (2017) if it were offered to her today? Shalini replies, “I had a lot of conviction at that time. Now that I think of it, I might have added a little more to it. But I feel the rawness was for the best, because the character needed that. Having said that, I would pick up the role, but maybe have different conversations with my director.”

As for Dabba Cartel, the 31-year-old stars alongside actor Shabana Azmi, something she credits her mum for. “My mum kind of manifested Shabana ma’am into my life. When I got into the film industry, she kept saying that she wished I would get to work with Amitabh Bachchan and Shabana Azmi,” she ends.