Tripti Dimri Interview: 'Bad News' Was to Hit Theatres Before 'Animal'

Actress Tripti Dimri, who gained stardom by playing the role of Zoya in the film "Animal", is originally from Garhwal, Uttarakhand. Despite belonging to a non-filmy family, she has made a name for herself in Bollywood in just seven years. These days she is doing many films. Out of which she is very excited about Dharma Productions' film "Bad News" which is releasing on July 19. Vicky Kaushal and Amy Virk are also with her in this film.
Portions from the conversation with Tripti Dimri...

So Tripti, please tell us something about yourself.

I am from Garhwal. I have been fond of acting and playing tennis since childhood. I started my career in Bollywood with the comedy film 'Poster Boys' directed by Shreyas Talpade in 2017. Then I played the lead role in the romantic drama film 'Laila Majnu' in 2018. Then I did the thriller film 'Bulbul' directed by Anvita Dutt. Rahul Bose, Paoli Dam, Avinash Tiwari, and Parambrata Chatterjee were also with me in this. After this, I did 'Kala'. In March 2022, I got 'Dharma Production's' Anand Tiwari-directed film 'Bad News'. This film will now be released on July 19. Earlier, people saw me in the role of Zoya opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Sandeep Reddy Vanga's film 'Animal'. Currently, I am very excited about the film 'Bad News'.
Before 'Animal', you did films like 'Bulbul' and 'Kala'. Their subject matter and the characters in these films were very good.

People liked you in these films too. But these films did not give your career the boost that the film 'Animal' gave. What do you think is the reason for this?

The reason I understood was that whether it is 'Bulbul' or 'Kala', both these films were for a particular class of audience. Both these films were released on OTT. Very few people watched these films in India. Whereas 'Animal' was released directly in theatres. The audience of the theatre is different and many people watched it. The matter of theatre is different. My film 'Laila Majnu' was released in theatres. 'Animal' reached the theatres after six years, so this also had an impact. Not only this, the subject matter and co-actors of this film also attracted the audience inside the theatres. Because of this, it was natural for my career to get a boost from 'Animal'. If our film 'Bad News', which we had already shot, had reached the theatres before 'Animal', then the matter would have been different. But due to some reasons, we could not release 'Bad News' earlier. Now this film is releasing on 19th July. If 'Bad News' had been released before 'Animal', then this film would have also given me immense popularity. We can reach a huge audience in theatres, that is why every artist wants his film to be released every Friday and the audience should go to the theatres to watch our film. Anyway, the magic of the big screen is different. Actually, I have done all good films. Every artist likes to see himself on the big screen and perhaps its effect is better on the audience as well.

When you got the offer for the film 'Bad News', then after reading the script, what aspect of this film inspired you to join this film? 

First of all, the director of the film Anand Tiwari gave me a narration about the story of this film and my character. After listening to the narration, I found this film quite funny. Director Anand Tiwari's comic timing and his sense of humor are very good. This is a very different kind of subject. Till now I had never heard of such a subject. That's why I decided to play the character of Saloni in this film. After that, I read the entire script and did some research on my own, then I came to know that seventeen such cases have happened in this world. So overall this film is based on true events. But the director has tried to put this subject in the comedy space. The biggest reason for doing this film is that I have got an opportunity to do comedy in it, whereas I had never done comedy before this. I got the offer for this film after 'Kala'. You also know that till 'Kaala' I have played very serious characters in every film. As an artist, I want to keep challenging myself again and again. When I accept a challenge, I get to learn a lot.

I had developed a comfort zone by playing many serious roles continuously. In such a situation, I wanted to get out of that comfort zone by doing the film 'Bad News'. While accepting to play the character of Saloni in 'Bad News', I was initially afraid of whether I would be able to play it correctly on screen or not. When I feel scared about doing a character or a film, I definitely like to do it. Because I believe that by doing something that you are scared of, you learn a lot and also grow as an artist. Comedy is a very difficult genre. At least I find comedy very difficult.
While doing a comedy film, we cannot work on a set pattern. We have to play in every scene. We have to play with our dialogue lines, with our co-actors. Comic jugalbandi with co-actors is very important. Due to this, we gradually got to learn something new every day on the sets of this film.

You just told us that this film is inspired by the real story of 17 people. So did you meet any of them?

No...because all of them are women from outside India. Therefore, we could not talk or meet any of them. But we read a lot about them on the internet. There was a news published in a newspaper that this has happened in China, after reading which director Anand Tiwari worked on it. People associated with Dharma Productions also felt that a light-hearted comedy film could be made on this. So after reading the story, the director also presented it in a comedy style in the film.

How much did you read on the internet yourself or did you give priority to the script for character preparation?

We did not need to read much on the internet. We gave more importance to the script. We also did workshops. We worked a lot on the scenes in the script. This film is a journey of three characters. It starts from somewhere. But when the film ends, all three characters learn a lot from their lives. In the meantime, all three accept their mistakes and correct them. In this journey, all three characters also grow in life. In the beginning, all three characters are a little naive and make mistakes, but in the end, they learn from those mistakes. There is a graph of all three characters in the film. So all three actors have strictly prepared within the limits of the script.

How would you define Saloni?

Saloni is a career-oriented girl from a middle-class family. She is a girl who dares to dream big. She works hard to achieve her dreams. Saloni has a habit of dreaming big since childhood. She is outspoken. She is hard-working. She tries to do everything right from her side. She tries to keep herself happy as well as her family happy. She wants to earn a name for herself by doing anything. She is very fond of cooking. She is a very famous chef in the film. Her thinking is that her work as a chef should go on. She should earn a name for herself and her family.

How was your experience of working with Vicky Kaushal and Ami Virk?

It was a very good experience. Both are very cooperative people. Both are very talented actors. I became a fan of Vicky Kaushal after watching 'Masaan'. After that, I watched all his work. I liked his work very much. Every time I used to think that I wanted to work with him. When we work with good and talented actors, we get to learn a lot. When I came to know that Vicky Kaushal is also in it, I was happy that now I will get to learn a lot. The same was the case with Amy Virk. Amy Virk is also talented. I learned a lot while working with both of them and also enjoyed it. The comic timing of both of them is amazing. Both of them read and understand the script and then make whatever is written on paper better with their acting. I used to get stuck on the paper only. I believe that being a good person is more important than talent and Vicky Kaushal and Amy Virk are also good people. Working with such people is also comfortable. Our director Anand Tiwari is also a good person. The truth is that during the shooting of this film, we became like a family.

When will your and Ranbir's 'Animal 2' release?

I don't have the correct information about this. Only Sandeep Reddy Vanga sir can tell the truth. You should ask this question to him. After the release of 'Animal Part One', everyone has become busy shooting for their other films. When Sandeep Sir wants to announce, he will announce. He is the director. He has the right to speak the truth about the status of the film.

Do you continue playing tennis or have you stopped?

No...I continue playing tennis. This is my hobby. I have loved playing tennis since my school days. I never think about its advantages or disadvantages. I get happiness by playing tennis.

-Shantiswaroop Tripathi

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