Actress Medha Shankar played a 17-year-old named Arshi in the recent OTT film “Shaadisthan”, who is about to be married against her will by her conservative parents. Medha says she could “connect to Arshi’s pain and angst”.
“Arshi is a regular 17-year-old Bombay girl with average dreams of going to college, making a name for herself, having fun with her friends, and living a free life. To prepare for my character, I created a personal, social and emotional life for her as a means to give a certain wholeness to her being, and to understand her deeply as a person. I strongly believe in and stand by the message the film sends out. I could instantly connect to Arshi’s pain and angst, and her whole emotional journey through this predicament, which started with fighting her parents, crying, pleading, running away, and then finally surrendering to her fate,” she said.
The film also features Kirti Kulhari and Nivedita Bhattacharya and has the veteran Kay Kay Menon in a special role. Medha who earlier appeared in Gurinder Chadha’s British TV series “Beecham House” opened up on working with these artists.
“Most of my scenes were with Nivedita and we got along from the word go. We always had inside jokes going on and would always chat and giggle off-camera. Kirti is a super chilled and fun person to be around and there’s so much to learn from her. I truly look up to both these incredibly strong actors and feel grateful that I got a chance to work with and observe such brilliant actors. Also, I was fangirling big time when Kay Kay (Menon) sir came on set. I asked him a lot of questions about acting and improvisation,” she said about her experience of working on the film that streams on Disney+ Hotstar VIP.
