Aanchal Singh is ecstatic after the release of Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein season 2 and feels that the audience has finally understood the emotional journey of her character Purva. With the second season of the show receiving critical acclaim, Aanchal is in the limelight like never before. During a conversation with Filmfare, she talked about her career journey, her transition from commercials to films and her ambitions. Fragments.
Tell us about the second season of Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein…
From an actor’s perspective, it can’t get any better. It’s like my new beginning. The work I did before this is now more recognized thanks to Kaali Kaali Aankhen. People have connected with my character Purva and understood her emotional journey.
Have more creators approached you after the success of this season? It takes a few projects before they understand that they want to work with someone. So now that the second season is also doing well and people are loving my performance, the foundation has become much stronger.
How did filming for season two differ from season one?
Season one had more emotional challenges. The second had more psychological and physical challenges. In season 1, we saw everything from Vikrant’s perspective. My character was mainly seen as an anti-hero, someone who is so obsessed with her lover that she tries to destroy his life. But for me, the story was never like that. When I took up this character, it was this girl who genuinely loved a boy. And since childhood, she only thinks about being with him. In season two we see that she has a humane side. This time there were also a lot of action scenes, which was a bonus for me.
Was it challenging to shoot for the action scenes? I wasn’t sure if I could make it. By the time we did the action scenes, I could completely identify with Purva. I thought from her perspective, she had been kidnapped and had to get out of the situation. I was lucky to have a great team. I could take that leap of faith and do certain things that I would doubt I could do under normal circumstances. Much later, after the shoot was over, I realized that I had an injury to my right arm and that I needed to take physical therapy. But that was a small thing I had to deal with. Now I can say that I can also take action. You started with commercials, then films and now OTT. Was it a struggle for you to break through and reach this position?
I don’t believe in the saying that beggars can’t be choosers. I believe that if you have a vision and a goal in mind, you can take up whatever you want to do. But it takes a lot of time, patience and consistency. I started with commercials and did 500. Then I did a Tamil film which was a super hit, after which I trained in that language so that I was ready for other projects. I have also done a Punjabi film. It was such a rollercoaster ride. When I did something like Undekhi, I already had a lot of experience. Then Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein added more to my personality.
Have you faced discrimination because you came from an advertising background?
People feel like you don’t know much about acting because you’ve done commercials. Because when you see a commercial, you only see a certain face for a few seconds. Only a few directors understand what lies behind those few seconds. But it’s hard for people who haven’t done commercials to understand this. Commercials were my first step into this industry and before that I didn’t know what a production house is or what the difference is between a cameraman and a director. I only learned all those complicated things on the sets of commercials.
Do you follow a process as you choose your script?
I need a character with depth, an arc through the story and a journey. I understand how you can determine whether a script is good or not, but I don’t think at the end you can put down on paper how the film will be talked about. Ultimately it is a different product. It’s about working with people you can trust and who get the best out of you. You just have to trust that process because I don’t think there’s any other formula.
Which filmmaker is your dream collaboration?
I want to work with Rajkumar Hirani, Zoya Akhtar, Mani Ratnam and Imtiaz Ali, among others. Nowadays you can easily adopt these names and hope to work with them because of OTT. Everyone is interested in hiring newer people.
If you had to sum up your journey in the industry in one movie title, what would it be?
When someone asks me how long I want to do this, I say: I want to do this all my life. I want to be here until my last breath. So I would say Jab Tak Hai Jaan.