Sometimes, one decision and 10 months is all it takes for life to change. As it did in the case of Vedika Pinto. Today, almost everyone recognises her as the feisty Sudha of Musafir Cafe. That’s a marked difference from last September when she earned positive reviews for her performance in Anurag Kashyap’s Nishaanchi (2025), but the two-part film went unnoticed by the audience. Even then, when the Netflix series came her way, she knew that the perfect sounding board would be her last director.

Talking to mid-day, Pinto recalled, “Before I signed Musafir Cafe, I called AK to tell him about it. In typical AK style, he asked, ‘Story kya hai? What’s your role? Who is directing it?’ Five questions later, he asked about my co-star and the platform. Then he said that I must do it. That’s the beautiful thing about him — even if his own taste is different, he supported me so much [with this show].”

Today, she couldn’t be happier about leading Musafir Cafe along with Vikrant Massey and Mahima Makwana. It has given her something that her last movie couldn’t.

“Nishaanchi opened many doors for me because the industry believes that if you’ve worked in an Anurag Kashyap film, you must be a good actor. But I didn’t get the audience’s appreciation. With Musafir Cafe, we’re getting so much love. So, I have one project that backs me as an actor and another that has the audience’s love,” she smiled.

The kind of work calls that Pinto is receiving has also changed after Ruchir Arun’s series. “After Nishaanchi, directors mentioned that they’d like to collaborate with me, but it was open ended. Now, those conversations have changed because there is proof of concept that viewers like this [actor].”

Vedika Pinto was nervous about working with Vikrant Massey. “He is a National Award winner after all,” she exclaimed, before calling him “a generous actor”. “We formed a beautiful working relationship. We had this ritual — whenever we felt stuck with a scene, we’d say, ‘Let’s play!’ Whenever we did it, something wonderful came out,” she said.

Many viewers felt Vedika Pinto reminded them of Parineeti Chopra, owing to similarities in their effervescent personalities, dialogue delivery, and on-screen presence.