After starting her career on the big screen, Sandeepa Dhar is enjoying her time on the web exploring myriad characters. Her two upcoming shows could not be more different. While Sony LIV’s Dr Arora sees her as a Morena woman, whose husband seeks the help of a sexologist, Tera Chhalaava on Hungama Play has her playing her first negative role. Dhar talks about the two offerings, the multitude of experiences, and the joy of working with Imtiaz Ali.

Edited excerpts from the interview.

The excitement will come once the shows release, and I get the feedback. As of now, it is sheer nervousness.

I auditioned for Dr. Arora and forgot about it because I was shooting for other things. About 15 days later, I got a callback from Imtiaz Ali’s office stating that they liked my test and Imtiaz wanted to talk to me. They set up a Zoom call because I was in Pondicherry at the time. I was nervous about getting on a Zoom call with him because it is one thing to talk to someone on a call, and another to have a face-to-face chat. I didn’t want to leave a bad first impression. I couldn’t sleep the previous night because I was nervous about meeting Imtiaz. You expect directors to have an aura, but Imtiaz doesn’t have any of it. He spoke to me as if he had known me forever. I couldn’t process the fact that he was complimenting my work. He told me about the show and my character. I was shocked when he asked me to come back and read the script.

When he told me the subject, I was intrigued because Imtiaz is known for making love stories. I would have been apprehensive of the subject, if it was not with Imtiaz. He brings credibility. The show won’t make you cringe or uncomfortable. From the writing, you can tell that they used the subject to educate, with a tinge of humour. My parents [and their generation] might feel uncomfortable about the subject because they come from a certain conditioning. We are the [second] most populated country in the world, and still shying away from [discussing sex]. That said, today’s generation is far more comfortable talking about it.

I had to understand the culture of people in Madhya Pradesh. The show is set in the ’90s. When I was younger, during winter vacations, we used to go to Delhi from Bangalore. En route, I’d often notice these doctor ads. When I would ask my parents about them, they inadvertently shut me up. As part of my prep, I had to learn about the people from Morena and their lifestyle in the ’90s. [I had to emulate] how they speak and their body language.

I saw it in titbits while dubbing. Archit [Kumar director], Sajid [Ali, director], and Imtiaz have justified the writing.

This is the first time I am playing a negative character. We prepped for three weeks before the shoot. Kabir [Sadanand, director] was part of the anthology, and asked me if I was interested. Since Kabir was in Goa, we did a lot of readings on video calls. It was difficult to find that darkness in me. I had an interesting journey to figure Anjali out and understand her morality.

Still from Tera Chhalaava

In February 2021, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry had released a set of guidelines, titled Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, to be adhered to by Indian OTT platforms. Among its many guidelines, video-streaming platforms were instructed to practice self-regulation for their offerings. Imtiaz Ali-created Dr Arora appears to be the latest web series to feel the blow of self-censorship.

The Sony LIV series about a sexologist, played by Kumud Mishra, sees Secret Superstar actor Raj Arjun as a spiritual guru. It is heard that Arjun’s track has several sensitive sequences, including a nude scene, which have been flagged off by the platform.

An insider reveals, “He plays a lust-driven character in the series. Given the current socio-political climate, depicting any spiritual or religious figure in such light could be problematic. So, the platform heads have requested Imtiaz and his team to make considerable changes to the track. His role will be toned down, and many of his scenes will be edited out of the final cut.”

The team has apparently decided to introduce another character of a firangi baba to facilitate the modifications to the script. The source adds, “A three-day patch shoot has been lined up for next week.” 

The series, initially slated to drop in early May, will now drop in the second half of June. 

mid-day reached out to the Sony LIV team and Ali, who remained unavailable for comment.