Boldness doesn’t come with just shedding of your clothes as you can be bold in a character even with clothes on - POOJA SINGH

Intelligent and good looking actress POOJA SINGH, who plays the lead in the short film UNFiltered Love tells JYOTHI VENKATESH in this exclusive e-mail interview for bollyy.com and Mayapuri that as far as sex is concerned, the most important thing should be the ‘CONSENT’ whether it is before marriage or after marriage.

What is the character that you are playing in the short film UNFiltered love?
I am playing the character of a social media addict named Shefali, whose life revolves only around likes, comments and validation from others. Everything that she does in her actual life is only to put up on Facebook and Instagram so that people have a perception of her enjoying life.

How did you bag the role?
Pratik recommended my name along with 3 other actresses when Prankur shared the story to him. Then Prankur and I met over the narration. I loved the script and Prankur had faith in me that I’ll pull the character and the very next day we started with our rehearsals.

What is the short film UNFiltered love all about?
The story is the mirror reflection of the idea of love in today’s modern generation. People are more concerned about pictures, likes, comments and relationship status of the partner on ‘social media’ than what is in reality. How relationships have become hollow and everything that one does is for only social media update, just to show off and at times, for competition. The film is about one such couple, Shefali and Aditya.

Does the film set out to drive home any pertinent social message?
Well, we just tried to show the reality with comical touch. The rest, the audiences are smart enough to make their own conclusions.

How did you approach your character?
To be honest, I have had so many real life references around me that it made it so easy to understand the character. Many friends, bloggers, vloggers etc and their life is all about social media. This reminded me of an incident where my friend (with large followers) got slapped by her ex in a club. She was more concerned about losing followers than someone raising hand on her.

Are you a trained actress?
I was confused about the career paths. Sometime I wanted to be a designer, sometimes something else. It was only in 2019 when I decided to go ahead with acting. I keep doing workshops under various mentors. Training and learning is a never ending process.

Is it necessary to learn acting in first place if you are a good actor?
I would say there’s team that works to bring a character on screen. There’s director, lenses, the editor and music apart from the actor. If I recall the Malayalam film Angamally Diaries, some of the actors had no prior acting knowledge but on screen it didn’t look like. They all were so fab. But to pursue it as long term profession, regular workshops and training add a lot to performance, especially if working in layers.

Is this short film your debut venture as an actress?
I have done a couple of ad films before I bagged this. I have also done small character roles here and there to understand the working culture and also to be sure whether I wanted to pursue acting as a profession.

How would you describe your co- actor Pratik?
Pratik is an amazing co-actor. He is always ready to help you. He probably has more knowledge about acting and directing, and so it was a learning experience for me. We would rehearse for hours, to get comfortable with the character. He has insane amount of patience. He’s a beautiful human being.

Did you go through any workshop to get into the skin of your role?
We used to rehearse for hours for 15-20 days as we had only one day to shoot. So we had to be perfect with the lines and setup before the shoot. Our director Prankur used to guide us on what’s working and how he wants the mood of the film.

Who are your favorite actor and actresses?
Oh I keep getting obsessed with actors of every series I binge watch. I have a long list. Every actor brings something new to the table. In movies I love Irrfan sir, Naseer sir, Manoj sir, Neena ma’m , Fahad Fasil, Jitendra Kumar, Tabu, Phoebe Waller Bridge, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hauffman, Benedict Cumbertbatch, Jaoquin Phoenix etc. I love them all.

Name the five directors who are in your wish list now.
I want to work with everyone. Listing just five is difficult. umm. To name just a few, I’d say Madhu C Narayan, Lijo Jose Pellisery, Mani Ratnam, Shoojit Sarkar, Zoya Akhtar.

To what extent could you relate your reel role to real life?
Social media has become part of our lives and somehow knowingly or unknowingly we all have a part of Shefali in all of us to some extent. All I can be glad about is that I am not so much addicted that I’ll update every activity, every hour but I just keep scrolling insta feed for no reason. ?

What do you have to say about director Prankur Chaturvedi ?
I feel that he’s an amazing writer. While rehearsing, I used to laugh over and over again on the scenes he wrote in the script. It was a fun experience. After every rehearsal Pratik, Prankur and Anjan would trip on Govinda’s dialogues and movies. So I was entertained throughout. Also he is a very confident director. He’ll go very far

Are you seriously pursuing your career in films? Which are your upcoming projects as an actress?
Yes, now I am. I am auditioning for quite a few projects. Let’s see how it rolls. Right now I am excited for Panchayat 2.

Are you game to act in web series?
I am game for everything till the time it challenges and excites me. I am all up for Bollywood, Hollywood, Web series, and music videos. In fact, for anything that’s interesting. I also want to explore regional cinema.

How bold are you and to what extent would you be ready to ready to expose on screen?

Well boldness doesn’t come with just shedding of one’s clothes. One can be bold in a character even with clothes on. For me, being bold is having a voice. According to my definition of boldness, I feel I am bold. I would prefer making content which my family can watch. But as an actress I would also not restrict myself in a certain bracket. So it totally depends on what the character requirement is and how the visual treatment is being done.

What is your view on social media? Is it a boon or bane today?
Like a coin, everything has two sides to it. On one hand it is keeping people away from each other, and on the other hand it is connecting people. It’s totally on us how we use it. People on social media come together to fight for rights, at the same time thrash each other down by trolling mean remarks. It has also given so much work to so many people. Bloggers, vloggers, videography, photograpgy etc has boosted more because of social media. Small businesses have bloomed because of it. At the same time it’s a stress, when people compare their lifestyle with another’s social media lifestyle. Boon or bane is how you respond to a thing.

As a modern young woman, what do you think of sex before marriage?
I think the most important thing should be the ‘CONSENT’ whether sex is before marriage or after marriage.

Is virginity according to you an outdated concept?
It should be ‘EQUALITY’ that should be the ‘ACCEPTED’ concept. Till the time, this is questioned to both the genders, I am fine. Sadly, only women are subjected to such questions. Men get accolades for work performance.