Exclusive! Sandeepa Dhar: People need to address sexual issues the way they talk about mental health now

The Dr Arora actor talks about how people have started having conversations about mental health now in our country, which used to be taboo a few years back.

Sandeepa Dhar/ Instagram

Dr Arora follows the story of a sexologist treating patients in three small towns in the north and central India in the late-90s. Sandeepa Dhar is one of the important parts of the show. In a candid chat with OTTplay, the actress explained how intrigued she was when heard that Imtiaz Ali is making such a strong subject-driven show. The actress talked about the creator's vision for the series and the experience she had while working on it.

Talking about the show and its importance, Sandeepa said that the need to tell the story out there was important. "I know that people shy away to talk about sexual problems. A few years ago, talking about mental health was also taboo, while now people are openly talking about it. So in the same way, people need to start talking about sexual issues like the way they talk about mental health now," she adds

Meanwhile, revealing the factors that made her take up the project, the diva mentioned that the main topic and motive of the show, Imtiaz Ali's vision and her own character intrigued her to work in the series.

When asked if she finds herself responsible as an actor for working on projects that give out a positive message to society, Sandeepa replied, "Of course, it is a big responsibility and if not said correctly then the actual message won't be delivered to the people. So it needs to be said in the most respectable and sensitive manner."

"And given the job to somebody right like Imtiaz is important as well because you know he as a filmmaker would deal with it in the most sensitive manner," she added.

She further praised the Dr Arora creator even more and added, "He has the intelligence and EQ to tell a story like this in the most sensitive manner."

Mentioning her interactions with Imtiaz, Sandeepa informed OTTplay that most of the conversations with the creator-writer of the show happened before the shooting started, during their workshop. "I spent a lot of time picking his (Imtiaz's) brain and I got most of the research material for my character and the show from Imtiaz," she added.

Before Dr Arora, the actress was seen in an anthology named Tera Chalaavaa on MX Player, which received quite missed reviews and mostly negative. When asked her opinion on the mystery-crime series, Sandeepa replied that after a project releases the makers, as well as actors, think about the alternatives that could have been done in the project irrespective of their performance. "But to be honest, I was quite happy with my story and my character as for the first time I was essaying a grey role and I wanted to see if I can pull off or not. It was very different from what have done earlier. But I loved my story and have no regrets now," she added.

Sandeepa is a trained Bharatnatyam dancer as well as fluent in modern dancing. When asked if the actress would like to be a part of a big dance film or not, she replied, "I would love to do a dance film and I'm comfortable in both classical and modern dancing. But I would like to be part of a musical film which has a good story. Like Westside Story released in Hollywood with a great story and dance sequences in it and did an outstanding job. So if something like that would happen here then I would love to be a part of it."

Dr Arora, which also stars Kumud Mishra, Vidya Malvade, Raj Arjun, Shekhar Suman, Vivek Mushran, Pitobash and Himani Shivpuri, is available to stream on SonyLIV.

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