Rocking the dhol

Mona

Different actors, different methods! Madhuri Yadav of Mirzapur and Bijli of Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo, talented actress Isha Talwar decided to spend some time in Punjab, before she stepped into the character of budding singer Jasmin Sandhu aka Jazz for musical thriller Chamak.

Getting familiar with the milieu helped her play the character of a true-blooded Punjabi musician, whose passion for singing and playing the dhol knows no bounds. Interestingly, she’s been friends with the director, Rohit Jugraj, and was helping him cast when he offered her the role.

“I know Rohit for long and really enjoyed the camaraderie as well as the light banter on the sets,” she says. Becoming part of a project that touches a sensitive topic didn’t put Isha into any dilemma. “As artistes one becomes part of the stories, many of which stem from real life. For me, Chamak is a fictional show. And though it explores things that crisscross paths with real life, in the hands of Rohit, it has all been dealt very sensitively.”

Artistic freedom

Isha is happy that in playing Jazz, she is essaying a character closer to her in age, and not a bahu or a bhabhi. Also, it is somewhat similar to how she is in real life. Having a friend on the director’s seat meant a different dynamics on the sets. “The amount of artistic freedom I got on the set was immense and helped me a lot. It really made Chamak a very special project.”

For this Mumbai girl, interestingly, it was Malayalam cinema that opened the doors to films. “Who knew that the cameraperson for the commercial that I was doing was looking for a lead heroine,” she laughs. That became her first film — Thattathin Marayathu, a Malayalam romantic comedy, written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan, and starring Nivin Pauly.

Since then Isha has been part of many regional and Hindi films — Tubelight, Kaalakaandi, Article 15 and Sharmaji Namkeen, to name a few.

Web zone

The OTT world got her more visibility, as she became part of projects like Mirzapur and Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo.

“While I enjoy web series and the variety it has brought both for the audience and artistes, I love doing films. I wish to do more of them,” she avers.

In fact, soon to be seen in season three of Mirzapur, and also Indian Police Force, she will also be a part of Punjabi film Shahkot, opposite Guru Randhawa. The shoot schedules for Shahkot and Chamak made her spend time in Chandigarh, which she absolutely adored. “I absolutely love Chandigarh. I enjoyed my early morning walks at Sukhna Lake, had a chance to see the royal Bengal tiger and white tiger at the Chhatbir Zoo, and spent almost all my free time at a chaat shop in Sector 34, gorging to my heart’s content.”