Sushmita Sen, who has made a comeback on the screen after 10 years, is naturally excited with her new innings as an actor. However, what has the Bollywood diva even more excited is the fact that her comeback vehicle – the web-series Aarya – also marks her debut in the OTT space. And the actress revealed that working on Aarya has been both a learning and an unlearning process for her. But the most shocking lesson that she learnt was in the art of dubbing!
Talking about it, director Ram Madhvani reveals that due to the lockdown, a whole lot of post-production work on the show including dubbing had to be done from home, as they didn’t want to delay the release. But it was no mean task, as they needed to be in a sound-proof surrounding! That’s when the team came up with the solution of recording their audios in their closets. “Well, this came as a shocker no doubt,” laughs Sushmita, who being a Bollywood star has always been used to dubbing in high-tech, well-equipped studios. “Who would’ve thought that we could use our closets for dubbing! The clothes did soundproof outside noises to a great extent. But more than just the process, there was such a lesson to be learnt in that there’s always a solution if we look hard enough. It also reflects the spirit of Aarya in a way which is triumphing over all adversities and we did it all together as a team,” adds the star.
As for what kept her away for so long, Sushmita shares that her love affair with acting had never ended, adding, “But between doing films just to keep myself busy as an actor and choosing to do what really made me happy, I chose the latter. And it took a while till I found something that made me want to face the camera again. I fell in love with the script, the first time Ram narrated it to me and I was ready to beg to play Aarya, if needed. Doing this web-series has more than anything else tapped the actor in me, rather than the star.”
The actress also revealed that it was for the first time in 24 years, that she attended a workshop for a role! “Yes, there are many firsts with this show and attending a workshop to rehearse the role was also one of them,” says Sushmita.
The taut and gripping trailer of Hotstar Specials Aarya has already been generating much interest and the team couldn’t have been happier with the feedback coming their way. The thriller web-series that has Sushmita play the titular role of Aarya, is set to release on June 19th and also stars Chandrachur Singh, Sikandar Kher, Ankur Bhatia and Namit Das.
