Showing posts with label Daldal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daldal. Show all posts
Bhumi Pednekar leaves The Royals 2; sequel shifts focus from romance to royal family drama
3:07 PM
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; May 10, 2026)
The Royals was greenlit for a second season, soon after the first dropped. But now mid-day has learnt that the leading lady, Bhumi Satish Pednekkar has left the show. The Netflix drama, which marked Zeenat Aman’s OTT debut, is expected to take a different turn from where the first season ended.
A source close to the production says, “When you do a romance, it is the story that leads. When the show came out, what resonated [with the audience] was the family — Ishaan [Khatter], Sakshi [Tanwar], Zeenat, and the world of The Royals — which feels different. We left season one at an unresolved romance. There was no decision to carry it forward. There was no fight with Bhumi. The makers are simply letting the story lead forward organically in the second season.”
Pednekkar has moved on from the series and is now prioritising darker, layered material. Sources say the actor is in talks for a courtroom drama backed by the makers of Haq (2025).
“Bhumi is also set to feature opposite Imran Khan in what insiders describe as his long-awaited comeback film for Netflix. The project, currently under wraps, has been in development for some time. She is also expected to begin working on Daldal 2, a project that aligns more closely with the intense space she has increasingly gravitated towards in recent years,” adds the source.
Pednekkar, who faced criticism after the first instalment, admitted in her Sit With Hitlist interview on mid-day that the backlash deeply affected her. “The noise became so loud that I couldn’t hear my own creative voice anymore. When you are told every day that you ‘don’t look like yourself,’ it starts to seep in. I felt numb.”
Sources close to the production maintain that the season two is being designed as a natural continuation of the world established in the first season, even if the central love story no longer remains the priority.
This character of Prince was my small ode to my father-Aditya Rawal
8:44 AM
S Farah Rizvi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 22, 2026)
Actor-screenwriter Aditya Rawal, the son of actor Paresh Rawal and theatre performer Swaroop Sampat, is currently riding high on the recognition coming his way after the release of the web series Daldal, where he plays Sajid and the film Subedaar, where he plays the antagonist, Prince. The 32-year-old shares his perspective on success, family legacy, and the effort required to carve his own path.
“The feeling has been overwhelming. I have never been part of something this big; seeing my work being discussed like this is surreal,” Aditya says of the positive response to his roles.
Speaking of his father’s reaction, Aditya says, “He enjoyed my performance and praised my work. But as it’s said, you have never arrived, so I feel abhi bhi bahut time hain. This character of Prince was my small ode to my father and the antagonistic roles he played back in the ‘90s.”
Addressing the topic of nepotism early on, Aditya adds, “I am my father’s son, and privilege remains. This fact surely gives us access to the industry that other people will not have in the same space.” However, he quickly clarifies his family’s approach to his career. “In our family, we never expected our parents to create a path for us, or for my father to go to town trying to find me work. So I knew I had to put my head down and keep walking.”
Aditya, who co-wrote films like Panipat (2017) with Ashutosh Gowarikar, reveals that he intentionally maintained a low profile early in his career. “I always knew I could write and act both. People always say I made a silent entry in the industry, maine aapne jab tak koi kaam nahin kiya toh uss level ka dhindhora kya pitna,” he adds.
Sharing details of his upcoming works, Aditya also mentions that he is eager to collaborate with his father. “Other than Hansal Mehta’s Gandhi, there are two more projects, one is a film opposite Sanya Malhotra and the other a series. There are also two scripts that I am working on. If all goes well with the first one, I have my father in mind, and we can share the screen for the first time.”
Aditya had written several films before debuting as an actor in Bamfaad (2020).
Why does audience care about the opening of a film?-Bhumi Pednekar
9:34 AM
Actor Bhumi Satish Pednekkar urges support for small films beyond box office numbers
Sonal Kalra (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 14, 2026)
Actor Bhumi Satish Pednekkar’s clarity of thought is refreshing in a world of rehearsed answers by celebrities. In the latest episode of The Right Angle with Sonal Kalra, she talks about her journey, troll culture and urges fans to support low budget films.
With audiences turning up to theatres only for big films, how can small stories win them back?
Small and medium-sized films are dwindling. Friday ko collections aane shuru ho jaate hain aur ek judgement de diya jata hai ki iss film ki opening nahin lagi. Agar nahin lagi toh kya it’s not a film that’s worthy of being given a shot?... I have people around me saying ‘haan lekin iski opening nahin lagi hai na’. I’m like why do you all care? This is not for you. This is for the business and industry people. Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) had opened at Rs. 1 crore! Agar tab yeh systems hote toh na mera, na Ayushmann Khurrana, na Rajkummar Rao, na Taapsee Pannu, kisi ke career nahi hote. I really feel bad. These are the films that actually change the society. Har cheez number ho gayi hai ab. We need to encourage small and medium sized films and that will only happen if we stop labelling them.
What’s that one thing you would look for in a role? What’s a prerequisite?
I don’t want to do any character that doesn’t have agency. In my last two pieces of work, The Royals and Daldal, both my characters had agency. I will never play a girl who conforms to all the stereotypes or all the conditioning that every other woman is trying to fight. I don’t have a problem playing a grey character or villain. If I am part of a magnum opus, and there are four scenes, but those scenes where I get to show something that I’ve never done, I will do it. It is not about the size of the role; it is about the impact.
Bhumi khud ye meaningful kahaaniyaan, cause-driven kahaaniyan dhund leti hai, ya ye kahaniyan Bhumi ko dhund leti hain?
This is just a part of me. My art has a lot of advocacy, and I as a person do, too. I am lucky that my first film, Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) taught me that cinema has a lot of power if you know how to use it well. Main jis tarah ke parivar mein badi hui hoon wahan pe maine hamesha dekha hai mere mother, father ko bahut community service karte hue. I was always taught ‘nation first, community first’. I think these learnings somehow reflect in my films. I have a lot of activism in me, and a lot of fun was made of it at one point.
What’s one similarity and one difference between the Bhumi of Dum Laga Ke Haisha and the Bhumi in Daldal today?
When I started my career, there was a certain innocence in that Bhumi that isn’t there today. A lot of that also comes with just spending these many years working. Agar kisi bhi profession mein hoti life, aapke experiences ek amount of hardening, and dar har insaan mein paida kar dete hain. The girl in Daldal is more mature. The similarity is that both are fearless. I was fearless then, and I am that now, too.
You’ve gone on record to say that you felt that it was a creative, emotional depletion that happened, which is why you took a break before Daldal. Would you want to elaborate on the break?
I felt it coming last year after shooting Daldal and a film. I couldn’t gather the strength to take that break. We are always told that, as a woman, how can you take a break? The clock is ticking, aur aapko yeh lag raha hai ki oh my God, now you know I am growing older… because this is your conditioning. I was very scared. I wasn’t able to give myself to acting the way I used to, maybe a little earlier. And it’s not like meri mehnat mein ya meri koshish mein koi kami thi. I felt depleted emotionally. I had seen a lot of struggle before I became an actor... I think once you become an actor, your life becomes monotonous in many ways because you are only working. You are going from one film set to another. If as an artiste I have nothing left to take from, ek ghada hota hai experiences ka, jo as an artiste aap apni performance mein daalte hain, wahi deplete ho gaya tha. Ek dum se vanilla ho gayi thi meri life, and I wanted to change that. I was an uninhibited actor, kyunki main kabhi race mein thi hi nahin. Main toh khud ki jagah bana rahi thi aur main race mein kab jud gayi, mujhe pata hi nahin chala. And that started affecting my mental health, everything.
Burnout is a reality, no matter which sector or age. What advice would you have, now that you’ve come back healed?
I have always been a planner. A lot of things that have happened in my life have been magic, and it has been God’s blessings. But I’ve always believed that you need to have a larger vision about what your life is. Even if you don’t have solid goals, there’s a larger vision, right? If you know what the next decade of your life is gonna look like and you feel that you need more skill, you need more time, or you just want to do nothing, that is also okay. You don’t owe anybody an explanation, nobody but yourself.
I think the industry needs to come together to stand up with each other when one sees negativity. It happened with actor Arjun Kapoor. So how do you keep yourself away from it?
I feel that people have forgotten ki by the end of it hum insaan hain. You can’t dehumanize a person you watch on screen. And all I want to say is that it’s easier to say, ‘It does not affect me’. It affects every one of us. How can it not? This is becoming a bit of a sickness.
I feel bad for all of these people who have so much negativity to say because there have been times where I have gone to this wormhole, and I would see it’s a woman who has pictures with her daughters. And I was like, ‘The way you are objectifying other women on social media, what if your daughter were to be objectified like that?’ It’s just not okay.
I would go a step further and say that we need strict laws against this, because this is not trolling; this is bullying. It is only a matter of time before a big incident happens, and then it will get nasty. Like, you know, you literally are telling people that, ‘I hope you die.’ What sort of darkness are you living in? What sort of sickness is here?
I was intimidated because I have looked up to Bhumi Pednekar-Samara Tijori
10:51 AM
Oshin Fernandes (MID-DAY; February 5, 2026)
While Bhumi Pednekar makes a commanding return to OTT in Amazon Prime Video’s Daldal, she finds an almost formidable counterpart in Samara Tijori. As the mercurial serial killer Anita/Anant Acharya, the actor has earned significant acclaim for her portrayal of a ruthless antagonist masquerading as a journalist. Reflecting on the reception, Tijori admits the response has been profound: “It is overwhelming; my heart is full,” she notes with evident gratitude.
Samara Tijori chopped her hair for the part
Samara, who wanted to pursue criminology, thinks she subconsciously manifested getting the part. Her dedication knew no bounds. She chopped her hair for real. Ask her why, and she explains, “When I went in for the look test, we tried a wig. I remember being like, ‘This is not really making me feel anything.’ When the wind was flowing, the hair was not moving. It wasn’t looking real. I thought to myself, ‘This is a part that I have, and I’m going to give 150 per cent to the performance on an emotional and physical level.’ As soon as I cut my hair, it was helpful to be Anant. It helped me detach, and it was certainly a good decision that I made.”
Samara Tijori on working with Aditya Rawal and Bhumi Pednekar
In the series, Samara shares a close bond with Aditya Rawal. With an evident onscreen chemistry, she asserts that they had become each other’s safe space while filming. “I love him to bits. We immediately clicked as friends. We watched a couple of films together because we had no reference point and had to enact the vulnerability,” she says.
As for her senior, Bhumi Pednekar, Samara recalled working as an AD on Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship (2020) that starred the former. But things were different now that they were co-actors. She says, “I definitely was intimidated because I have looked up to her for a very long time. I met her the first time at the reading. And she literally hugged me and said, ‘I'm so happy that we are doing this together.’”
Deepak Tijori's advice to daughter Samara
Samara, who is the daughter of veteran actor Deepak Tijori, says that she had to shoot the climax earlier than expected, which left her petrified. But one phone call to her dad added a massive dose of encouragement. “He has always told me to be patient because it’s not always hunky-dory. I saw good and bad days with my father, and what I took from that is resilience. He emphasizes being ready because when something comes, you shouldn't be slacking,” she says.
Samara is aware of the pressures that come with great work. But she believes in going with the flow. “For a change, I would like to play happier roles,” she laughs. “If I can access these parts of myself and express them as an actor, there is nothing more fulfilling than that. But I am definitely in a space where I want to see where this takes me. It's not like some 50 things are flooding me. It’s very soon,” she signs off.
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