Having played extreme shades in her upcoming film, actor Heli Daruwala feels that nowadays it does not matter what shade an actor is playing — it all comes down to the content and the performance.
Last seen in Ek Chatur Naar (2025), which Heli shot in Lucknow, she says, “It’s rare that you get to play extreme shades, and the best thing is that it’s all situational! She is inspired by Priyanka Chopra’s role in Aitraaz (2003). On debuting as a female lead in a feature film, she says, “I am one of the last few people to join the project, and we had great fun shooting for 25-odd days in Dehradun (Uttarakhand). The best people are those where everyone is very passionate about the project,” says the Andheki 3 actor, who has also completed a project for a leading OTT platform.
So, from positive to grey, I will like to be remembered for my overall performance and not just how the character shaped up in the film. Now, it’s all about performance and content, and actors are exploring every opportunity coming their way — positive and negative. “The beautiful thing is that our writer-director Arvind Pandey has given different shades to my role, which transforms during the course of the film. It’s something that I have not done before. Apparently, it looks like a negative character, but it’s plot-driven and one will see how things shape up. So, I was very excited about the project, which was challenging and very different from my personality. “It’s about how it should be a good project and reach the audience through theatre or a good platform. Ab aisa nahi hai ki sirf film karni hi… bas accha kaam karna hai!
As an actor, it is an amazing opportunity to explore extreme shades in one role,” she says. “If we recall Aitraaz, the role of Priyanka was a negative or grey shade, but iconic, and its impact is that it stands out in the movie,” she says, adding, “She was my template for the powerful performance she gave in the film and the impact she left. “We have grown up watching films, so it’s every actor’s dream to be a part of a film that releases in theatres and audiences watch you on a big screen, so you want to be in that medium,” she says, adding that the scenario has changed now.
