In Chandigarh, Shweta Tripathi, known for her role in Mirzapur 3, says as an actress, she wants to be as versatile as the aloo!

Sheetal

You may know her best from her role in Mirzapur as Gajgamini Gupta urf Golu, but actress Shweta Tripathi in real life relates best to batata wada when it comes to her personality and that’s why @battatawada is her Instagram handle too! In Chandigarh on Thursday evening for an event, Black & White Ginger Ale Table for Everyone, Shweta didn’t just host it but also played many ‘ice-breaking’ games with as many as 50 influencers of Chandigarh. Shweta shared, “This is the third edition of the show and this year the cities are Chandigarh and Kolkata. The concept of the show is very good and I am enjoying it because we all are scared of sharing. Here you get people together and just ask them to open up and they are from all walks of life. Humans are the only species that can speak and hence are blessed to sit together and share.’’

As she talked to The Tribune ahead of her event, Shweta also highlighted, “Batata is a word for aloo (potato) in Mumbai and I actually wish to be the aloo as an artiste. Just like battata, which is present in most dishes, be it veg, non-vegetarian or vegan food, gels with any dish, can be crisper, soggy, roasted or boiled…so I wish to be an actor who fits into any role.”

She is yet to essay a Punjabi character in a film or series. Shweta exclaimed, “I cannot wait to play a Punjabi role. I really love the innocence and beauty of Punjabis. I think ‘being yourself’ is the key for Punjabis to steal anybody’s heart without an iota of fakeness. I hope to play a Punjabi kudi really soon.”

Last seen in Mirzapur’s threequel, did she ever feel it was a challenge returning to a character after a gap? “On the contrary, I believe a good franchise series is like an investment or fixed deposit and its sequels are the guaranteed returns. I never felt reprising my character was a challenge because that’s what an actor’s job is — to be able to unlearn and learn, move backward or ahead in time, and live as many lives and stories in a lifetime as they can.”

Shweta’s life motto is Kya Mast Hai Life, which is also the name of her first show, the big acting break on television. “I consider acting as a very spiritual process where you have to be in the now, in the present,” she added.

For Shweta to play a character like Golu, whose life’s circumstances forced her to pick a gun instead of books, and then in the same year seen as Parul Chaturvedi (Kalkoot), an acid attack survivor who refuses to be pitied upon, maintaining the right balance must be tough. “It’s not intentional, but I have been selective about characters that I wished to portray. It’s a wrong perception that you cannot say no during the initial years in the industry. I always had a say.”

The Masaan actress, who has switched from non-vegetarian to vegetarian food, is disturbed by the increasing rape cases in the country. “To issue a generic statement of society being the cause isn’t leading us to any immediate solution. There needs to be stronger deterrents in place.”

A graduate from NIFT Delhi, Shweta loves to experiment in hair, make-up and fashion, especially when seen at non-film events like the one held in Chandigarh. On the other hand, social media she considers a boon. “With social media, it’s documenting everything good or bad that you have once said or done. But it’s important to treat artistes as human beings, who can also commit a mistake.”

About Chandigarh she has only good memories to share, “We were here during our shoot of Ye Kaali Kaali Ankhein for a couple of days before heading to the actual location. The food is really great here, I have a childhood memory of coming to Chandigarh with my parents and having a sandwich, which was so yummy that I still remember the day. Lastly, City Beautiful is so planned and unique because I have never heard any other place to have manholes with a city’s map.”

On Hindi Diwas, Shweta shared she wanted to incorporate Devnagri script in her morning reading ritual and just started with one of Amrita Pritam’s Hindi book. She is also reading The Secret of Nagas by Amish Tripathi from his Shiva Trilogy series and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A Novel by Satoshi Yagisawa.