‘Every Actor’s Dream To Work With Shabana Ma’am’

‘There
were
moments
where
I
simply
couldn’t
look
away
from
her.’

Excel
Entertainment’s
new
series



Dabba
Cartel
has
five
women
—
played
by
Shabana
Azmi,
Jyotika,
Shalini
Pandey,
Nimisha
Sajayan
and
Anjali
Anand
—
run
a
drug
operation
through
a
tiffin
service.

“When
you
have
such
talented
actors
opposite
you,
it
really
elevates
your
own
performance,”
Nimisha
tells

Subhash
K
Jha.

You
are
known
to
be
picky,
so
what
made
you
say
yes
to

Dabba
Cartel?

I
had
no
reason
to
say
no
to
the
project.
I
found
the
story
about
five
women
running
the
drug
cartel
to
be
very
interesting.

And
the
moment
I
read
the
script,
I
fell
in
love
with
my
character
Mala.
I
was
very
excited.

And
plus,
Shabana
Azmi
ma’am
and
Jyothika

Chechi,
both
were
involved
in
the
project.

It’s
like
every
actor’s
dream
is
to
work
with
Shabana
Azmi
ma’am.

And
as
an
actor,
it
has
always
been
my
dream
to
be
involved
in
projects
that
give
women
the
space
to
shine.

And
in
this
one,
there
were
like
five
incredibly
strong
women
characters.

In
my
experience,
the
strong
female
characters
were
brought
to
life
by
some
amazing,
incredibly
talented
women.

And
when
you
have
such
talented
actors
opposite
you,
it
really
elevates
your
own
performance.

You
are
formidable
in
your
right?

Seeing
Shabana
Azmi
ma’am
perform
right
in
front
of
me
was
truly
magical.
She
has
an
incredible
presence.

There
were
moments
where
I
simply
couldn’t
look
away
from
her.
She’s
a
legend
in
her
own
right.

And
Jyotika

Chechi,
some
of
my
favourite
moments
were
with
Jyotika

Chechi.

She’s
a
brilliant
actress
and
one
of
my
favourites.

I
was
very
close
to
her
and
Anjali
Anand
on
set.
And
I’m
so
thankful
to
have
met
Jyotika

Chechi
and
Anjali.

What
made
your
character
in
Mala
relevant
to
you?

Mala
is
a
character
with
many
layers
to
her
personality.
She’s
a
single
mother.
She’s
dedicated
to
raising
her
daughter.
She
wants
her
daughter
to
achieve
the
dreams
that
she
couldn’t
fulfil
for
herself.

There’s
the
scene
where
the
daughter
says,
‘Mama,
TV

kuch
zyada
hi
bada
nahi
hua
hai?‘

Then
Mala
is
like,
‘nahi
beta,
hum
ghar
bada
lenge.’

She’s
a
dreamer.
She’s
bold,
strong,
independent,
fearless.

But
at
the
same
time,
she
carries
many
insecurities,
which
she
tries
to
hide
by
projecting
an
image
of
fearlessness
and
strength.

At
times,
she
is
judgmental.

But
also,
there’s
a
scene
with
Varuna
(played
by
Jyotika),
during
the
emotional
conversation,
she
makes
an
effort
to
understand
what
Varuna
is
experiencing
rather
than
judging
her.

I
find
Mala
to
be
a
very
layered
character.
She
has
got
many
layers
to
her
and
she’s
a
beautiful
character.

What
are
you
working
on
now?

I’m
currently
working
on
a
series,
a
Tamil
series.
And
one
of
my
Tamil
films
is
set
to
be
released
soon.
I’m
not
sure
about
the
date.

And
I’ve
been
part
of
Soham
Shah’s

Crazxy,
the
film
which
has
already
hit
the
theatres.