Actor Shehzad, popularly known by his surname Shaikh, is in fact a Babi by lineage. Yesteryears’ star Parveen Babi is his step-grandmother—a detail he calls “incidental” rather than defining, insisting his journey is shaped by persistence, not privilege. “I am a nepo kid, but that’s not how I wanted to be known,” says the actor, currently shooting for Ganga Mai Ki Betiyan in Chandigarh, in a conversation with us. Excerpts:

I grew up in Saudi Arabia and moved to India for higher studies, graduating in hospitality with a top-paying job. Though I always wanted to act, coming from a family of lawyers, I never expressed it openly. After a stint at a five-star hotel in Mumbai, I moved to Gujarat to start an energy-saving business, but it shut down. I then worked as a stockbroker until the market crash, followed by a brief stint as cabin crew when the airline also shut down—forcing me to rethink my path.

My neighbour, actor Nawab Shah, once challenged me to prove my interest in acting by giving me a contact number. I took it seriously, dressed in a suit, introduced myself as offering “acting services,” and began auditioning. Eventually, I got a call from a casting director to play lead in an episodic in Savdhaan India. I started from the bottom — no contacts, no connections and did episodic like Savdhaan India, Adaalat, Gumrah, and similar formats.

I got my first big break with the Qubool Hai. After that, I did a film which was a great learning experience, but I ended up spending two years on that project, which slowed my career. That’s when I realized that films and web series weren’t always viable from a business perspective for me at that stage. So, I decided to return to TV and came back with Bepannaah, followed by Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai.

Around the same time, Vikram Bhatt cast me in a web series Anamika, with Sunny Leone. He offered me another film, 1920: Horrors Of The Heart, but my first producer, Gul Khan felt I was ready for a full-fledged lead role on TV. I respected that, apologized to Vikram sir, and quit the film shoot to do Sindoor Ki Keemat as lead.

After that, I did Mehndi Hai Rachne Waali, which also performed very well, especially in North India. Then last year, I experimented with a limited-series format—Zyada Mat Udd.

See, I realized early that television is my bread and butter. It gives you daily visibility, you enter people’s homes every night, which no other medium offers at this scale. By doing films, my visibility is once or twice a year. But through TV, I am in your homes every day, you can’t ignore me (laughs).

A decade ago, she was introduced into the Bigg Boss house to add more glam and spike up the ratings. After that, the doors to Bollywood opened up for Sunny Leone and she quickly embraced the opportunities that came her way. In a chat with Bombay Times, she talks about the fast-growing entertainment space in India, how she fits into it all and how the next few years seem packed with the kind of work she always desired to do. Excerpts:

It has been so amazing. My husband Daniel (Weber) and I could erase some of the bad memories, but it has been a fulfilling decade which we have spent here. It’s been a dream — we’ve gotten into production, films, shows, television and entrepreneurship in different spaces. I love being here and I am very happy about it. A long time ago, Daniel and I were staying at a five-star hotel, our makeshift home. I was shooting for Jism 2 at that time and I met a woman who had told me that once you are here, India will get a hold of you and you will never want to move to another country. She was right! Like it happens to so many people who come here, it happened to me, too.

There is something magical about being in India and being in this industry. This country holds you back in a good way. I remember what that lady said as I complete each year here. I never want to leave and be anywhere else. This is my home. At work, I have tapped into so many different outlets of entertainment. India is one of the fastest emerging countries as far as creating content goes — we’re doing so much of it every single day. It’s unbelievable. If you are a professional and sincere, you will be very busy. If you just focus on work and go back home, and not steal someone else’s hard work, you’ll be home and at peace.

I can only choose from what’s on the table. Certain projects that came to me, which sounded interesting, did not complete the circle to move forward. We were happy to even get a meeting with Vikram Bhatt. He was kind and generous. And I was floored because it doesn’t happen very often that someone sees me in a completely different light. I have worked with some amazing people in my career, but this was different. It was an immediate yes and I didn’t need more information than he already had. He makes you want to trust him; he is honest and hardworking. The story was compelling, it was outside my comfort zone and I hadn’t had the chance to try that before. Vikram nurtured me in every way possible and he always had so much to share, there is a reason people liked the show. The best part is that he saw me differently; he saw past the glamour and showed me in a unique way. We like actors and want to emulate them because they are glamorous and I don’t want to take away from that, but Vikram saw something. I am honoured that he did.

I will have to go back to what I said about picking from what I’m offered. Shero is another space that people have not imagined me in. It’s a psychological thriller with action and crazy stuff thrown in. I have one film which allows me to play a glamorous part, and two others, one of which has some really big names in it. I’ve just finished shooting for one at Tirupati.

I don’t think you can plan all this. I find it interesting when people say that they are waiting for the right project to come their way. How do we ever know what a right project is going to look like? I am language and industry agnostic. I am okay with work in any language as long as it’s good work. We are in a time where content is dubbed in languages that are common for various regions. People are past the idea of the language barrier because everyone wants good content and that is the name of the game. I have prided myself in the fact that Daniel and I are working parents, like a lot of other couples around us. It’s equally important to work and take care of our children. Who doesn’t like to work? I like to work. I want that job more than anyone else and for that, I am willing to go an extra mile and learn the language and prepare my scenes in advance. I just got back from Tirupati where we were shooting. I refused to shoot my portions in Hindi, though it was offered to me. It is important to learn the languages, and even though it takes time, when you go on set, you’re prepared and equipped. I’m an artiste who wants the work — I don’t believe that I need it and I don’t think I deserve it. I want it and I will work hard for it. I’ve learned every single thing I know by working with so many wonderful people. I came here with no formal training in what I am doing today. Not everything I did looked nice. Some of it looked horrible, too. You’re sitting in a room and wondering what you are doing, which is not looking great. It’s a matter of time and with the right guidance and meeting the right people, you grow out of that. We’re well past that point where you have to work with an A-list actor or director. COVID taught us to be humble. It is about finding the people who believe in you and have the patience to nurture you and guide when you falter.

Daniel and I do 20 things at once. It is not just a movie or a show that I count on to make my life meaningful. I love it all, but that is not it. If something didn’t go well, it’s not in my hands to change that. Like I can’t say, ‘Okay, let’s pull it out, correct it and put it back there...’ for a show or a movie. It doesn’t work like that. You have to be a realist and understand what you are good at. My husband and I are good at multitasking and have our hands in as many avenues of entertainment and lifestyle as we can. Instead of focusing on only one thing. The next five years are going to be about work. We are looking forward to greenlighting more projects from what’s on the table and entrepreneurially, I want to grow. Something that I do today will always pay better tomorrow. I will continue to live with that thought.

Actor Sonnalli Seygall has been craving to do a power-packed actioner. Despite her being in the industry for over a year, Seygall got to do heavy-duty action only recently, thanks to her digital show Anamika. “In my head, I have always been a power-packed actioner. I’m not this desi bubbly girl in real life. I’m not someone who segregates between mediums. I choose the best that comes,” Seygall states.

Talking about the fee structure for actors who transition to OTT from films and those who’ve only done web projects, Seygall shares, “I feel like after doing films, your fee in OTT increases. Had I not done films and if I had done OTT, probably I wouldn’t have been compensated as much as I am getting now.”

The actor, who has played a girl-next-door in most of her films, shares her perspective on the diversity that the digital space has to offer. “With OTT coming in, the number of projects being made has increased. Proportionally, the number of roles actors get has also increased. Say, if I was offered 10 projects last year, I’m offered 20 now, simply because of the volume of work that has increased. So yes, it is because of OTT that you get to play different parts,” she elaborates.

While OTT gives actors the liberty to experiment, it also equates to higher commercials as the days of filming increase. Ask if that’s something actors keep in mind while signing digital shows, and she replies, “I looked at projects concerning money only in the middle of my career, because at the beginning of your career you want to get work; in the middle, you want to survive, but now I don’t look at that aspect. I know the money will come in anyway. For me, choosing projects is not dependent on money.”

Sunny Leone has had a ball of a time filming Shero. The psychological thriller, directed by Sreejith Vijayan, follows the journey of Sarah Mike, a US-born woman with roots in India. From performing stunts to learning dialogues in Tamil, the actor had to prep extensively for the project. “Action is fun, almost like a game. I have never found physical stunts daunting, and prefer doing them myself. In the past, I have had body doubles who didn’t look like me. If it’s extremely dangerous, then a professional should step in; otherwise I am adept at doing my own stunts,” says Leone, clearly enjoying the adrenaline rush.

Picking up Tamil was a different ball game altogether. As part of the prep, she had to work closely with a language coach who helped her get acquainted with the basics. “I was quite intimidated that I had to [deliver so many dialogues in] Tamil. But my director helped me out, including getting me professional Tamil coaching.” The multilingual will also be released in Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu.

With Shero having reached the finish line, it is time for Leone to resume shooting for Vikram Bhatt’s Anamika, which also has her dabbling in action. It is evident that she is feeling at home with the genre as she exclaims, “I am doing kung-fu. Any stunt coordinator [who has worked with me] will vouch for the fact that I love kicking, punching and rolling.”

Everything has been thrown into a disarray, with the second wave of Coronavirus gripping India. The entertainment sector, which was just beginning to get back on its feet since late last year, is again seeing work get stalled. Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt says, the business was still being impacted even after things looked up around October last year, with theatres reopening after seven months.

“We are still reeling under the impact. Even Sanjay Gupta’s Mumbai Saga, which was released in mid-March, was badly hit by the lockdown. I’m sure he suffered losses on a film that’s complete,” shares Bhatt, adding that the situation is grim everywhere. “But, when you look around and see people dying, you realise your problems are very little compared to what others are going through,” he says.

While the 52-year-old admits that there is trouble around, he insists this is the time to come together to fight the virus; “Our theatres are in a lot of trouble, but the nation is in bigger trouble. Now is not the time to talk about personal losses. This is the time for us to join hands and come together as a nation.”

Bhatt was shooting for a project, Anamika, with actor Sunny Leone, but work got stalled as a lockdown was announced in Maharashtra, in the last week of April.

“I was almost done with the shoot when work was stopped yet again. We did rapid antigen tests every day and an RT-PCR every seven days. Luckily, I had another project, Bisaat: Khel Shatranj Ka (recently released web series), which I had finished in the interim period. We only had a few cases there,” he further adds.

Ask what keeps him occupied during this lockdown, and Bhatt reveals it is his writing. “I am writing a lot. My boss Mahesh Bhatt, an integral part of my company’s creative process, is after me when I’m not doing enough. He is a taskmaster. Thankfully, writing is something you can do when you’re in a lockdown,” he signs off.

We have all witnessed Keanu Reeves spraying bullets in slow motion as he takes down an army of enemies in the noir thriller franchise, John Wick. Come July, we may see Sunny Leone indulging in similar gunplay. Vikram Bhatt’s web series, Anamika, sees her play a highly skilled trained assassin who has lost her memory. Considering the show relies heavily on action, the actor trained in Gun fu for 10 days before the project rolled in November.

“It’s an intense action thriller that sees Sonnalli [Seygall, co-star] being sent on a mission to kill Sunny. It is a deadly hunting game between the two trained assassins. Sunny learned Gun fu for her part; it took 10 days to get the preliminary action in place,” says Bhatt, who is currently filming the MX Player project.

In an industry that relies on the traditional kicks, punches and blowing up of cars to build up the momentum in an action sequence, the director is excited to introduce Gun fu — a discipline that combines the stylish martial art Kung fu, complete with hand-to-hand combat and traditional hand-held weapons, with guns. Any martial arts movie-aficionado will tell you that the action style was introduced by filmmaker John Woo in A Better Tomorrow (1986). It has since gained prominence in Hollywood with The Matrix (1999), The Raid (2011) and John Wick (2014).

The director promises hyper-stylised combat techniques in his action thriller. “The training in Gun fu requires stretching and the ability to fall and kick, but it doesn’t require any cable work. The best thing about the web series is that the women are performing the stunts themselves,” explains Bhatt. In his first collaboration with Leone, he is impressed by how smoothly she has taken to action. “She is hard-working, sincere and has an incredible need to better herself in everything she does."