‘As actors, we are in a very vulnerable spot’: Adah Sharma

Looking at Adah Sharma, one would get a vibe of a beautiful actor who will fit perfectly in any glamorous roles but with her latest short film titled ‘Chuha Billi’, released today on FNP Media, the 28-year-old has given a performance that will give you goosebumps in just 15 minutes of her screen presence.

Playing the role of Katrina, a patient of mental illness, Adah made sure that her expressions do the talking in most of her scenes in the short film directed by Prasad Kadam and produced by FNP Media and Crystal Minds.

Talking about how challenging was the movie for her as an actor, she told Opoyi, “So Prasad wanted to shoot this film at night because he said it will give it the right energy and he wanted to keep it in really dark space. Also, we did not romanticize or glamourize it because something like depression or mental health should be taken very seriously.”

Talking about the similarity she has with her character in the short film, Adah said, “The only similarity I have with my onscreen character Katrina is that we both are actresses professionally and I think that we are in a very vulnerable spot as actors because we are judged every second for what we are wearing to what we are thinking to the expression on our face that is caught on camera while we were looking at somewhere else maybe

“Even if you are upset in your head and to be able to portray that you are not externally taking a lot for an actor and I think that does mentally strain you so either you come out very strong or positive or otherwise. In a similar way, my character was mentally really tormented and we wanted to leave the ending like that to show you that is how it is and give you a slice of life that wasn’t a very happy one,” she said.

Adah says that “it’s great to play characters that you don’t identify with because that’s the whole joy of being an actor.”

The movie is now available on the YouTube channel Films by FNP Media. ‘Criminal Justice’ and ‘Padmaavat’ fame Anupriya Goenka plays the role of Katrina’s friends Seerat in the film.

The storyline revolves around Katrina and Seerat who lives together. While one of them is undergoing medication and therapy for mental illness, the other one is mature and sane, taking care of her friend.

There comes a time when Seerat decides to move out with her boyfriend and is in a dilemma on how to divulge the news to Katrina. Meanwhile, Katrina finds out about the news while secretly checking Seerat’s social media. How will a mental illness patient react when she gets to know that the only person she trusts is leaving her results into the climax of the film.

Talking about her character Anupriya says that when she read the story for the first time, it spoke to her because depression is something that needs to be spoken much more about.

“ I have faced it myself and quite closely and I have faced it amongst my friends and family too so I could identify with it at both the levels- as someone who felt and gone through it and as someone who has seen it in her family with her closed ones and how difficult it is for both the parties. Having said that, solutions have to be found and it has to be a mixture of identifying it, addressing it, accepting it, and then communicating and having a support system of more than two people trying to work together,” she told Opoyi.

Talking about whether he also feels that actors are in vulnerable jobs, she says that “yes you are being judged but there is no problem in that because we have signed up for it as we say but yes it’s difficult.”