Exclusive! Sai Tamhankar: You have to keep proving yourself as an actor with every project

Sai Tamhankar, who has started her career from the Marathi film industry and even now, continues to dabble between Marathi and Hindi films, has spoken to OTTplay about her journey as an actor. Currently seen in Sony LIV’s show Pet Puraan, Sai has constantly picked varied projects and it is something she says that she does consciously. Here, we discuss her recently released project, how she has been projected over the years and much more. Excerpts…

You had an amazing release this year in Pondicherry. Now we see you in Pet Puraan. Before this, you were in Mimi and Samantar 2. We see these varied projects, all of which have been different and a hit among the viewers. So, tell me, what is your script selection process?

To be very honest, it's very instinctive for me. Sometimes, I want to do the film, sometimes I like the character and sometimes I like the director. So, there's no fixed criteria. But I effortfully choose my roles according to the releases. I like that because in our profession, you have to prove yourself with each project. So, it's important for me to keep doing different things all the time.

What was the case with Pet Puraan? What attracted you initially towards the project?

Obviously, the pets. When I heard that I would be shooting with a kitten and a dog, I was super excited. I did not think that we would tap on so many topics from our society. We would probably have a conversation starter with the content in the web series. The backdrop is about pets but says a lot of things about today's relationships - how a husband and wife are in the 21st century, what are their thoughts, how their relationship works. Many things are wittily woven into this. It's what I like. It's a witty script so that was a major reason for me to say yes.

Through the show though, we saw that there are two sides of the society - about one not accepting pets and on the other hand, how pets bring joy to the lives of people around them...

They don't have agenda, motive, purpose. It's just amazing to see that.

The pressure of a wedding, having a 'happily married life' and kids being an example of that is something that the society has put since ages. It's a benchmark that they have set to stay happy. While we do see a change in some place, it isn't there everywhere. Through Pet Puraan, we saw you bring the message of live and let live forward, in a fun way at that. Would you agree?

We've hit the right spot. At least people will start thinking after watching the series. They will think if they need to start a conversation about this. What we showed isn't imaginary. Lot of these incidences are inspired from Dnyanesh's life. This is happening around you and you can't pretend to not see it. If you ask me, there are people who think like that. I am surrounded by such people. Such chain of thoughts do exist and I do acknowledge and respect it.

Which thought?

I respect if a couple is thinking not to have children by choice. I wouldn't want to judge them, like the society does. It is high time that the women dictate if they want to be a mother. They have to be very clear about these thoughts before getting into a relationship, marriage or anything. We have seen the pressure since ages. We can talk about it but things don't change and they have to. Through Pet Puraan, at least a conversation should begin so people realize what is happening around them and how the world is changing. That would be more than enough.

Pet Puraan is quite special for you since you actually became a pet parent and it has changed your life. Elaborate in detail.

It's a very interesting story. I wasn't a cat person at all before the show happened. I was not fond of cats. My director is a pet parent. He has a Persian cat named Simba. When I met him, I got fond of him. When our shoot started, I was with the kitten for 45 days. I was heavily attached to him by the end of the shoot. Since I have roller-coaster schedules because I have an actor, I convinced Dnyanesh to adopt the kitten together. He got convinced.

You have known Dnyanesh since long and have been friends. You also know how he works. Was he also a reason for you to agree to Pet Puraan?

I have done two projects with him. I like what he stands by and approach towards a particular scene or script. It is very fresh, today and interesting. That is also a major reason. Of course, when your friend calls you and asks about a project like this, who would say no? So, yes. He plays a major role for me to say yes.

Sai, people know you for your bold work. Honestly, no matter what, people love you and you are recognized beyond the Marathi film industry. Tell me about the whole journey and how did you break out of the box?

The audience creates an image for you. You could try to break that image but till they don't break that image for you, you are just making efforts. Bold and beautiful are the tags that are forever attached to my name. Because of that, even when I would do something different or non-glamorous, my tags would always overpower that. I had to make sure that with every project, there's so much variety that you cannot say that I mean bold. I've done different kind of projects and Pet Puraan is also an example of that. One should always answer to such tags with your work and that's what I have been doing and now it's paying off.

You worked with Lalit in Medium Spicy and then Pet Puraan. How would you say your equation changed with him, if it did?

It has been wonderful and I'm very fortunate to have a friend like Lalit in my life. We first met on the sets of Medium Spicy. We didn't know anything about each other. We simply followed each other on Instagram and that's all we knew about each other. Actually, in that film, us not knowing each other helped our characters. As we went deeply into it, we gelled really well. Then, we did a film together. We shot for it a couple of years back (it hasn't released yet) and got closer. By the time of Pet Puraan, we had already become very thick and comfortable with each other. Pet Puraan justifies that. Because of such amazing chemistry, we could convey what we exactly wanted to say.

He has a very bright future ahead. Everyone must watch out for this guy because he has tremendous potential and I like his work personally - as an actor. There are very few actors who care about the bigger picture over their character and graph. I like such actors and he is one of them.

Shooting with pets is obviously not a cakewalk. Do you remember any incident where the scene was something but had to be converted into something else?

That happened all the time but in a good way. There's a scene where I'm supposed to meet my sister and I tell Lalit to take Baku for vaccination. He talks to her, right? He was giving his dialogues and just after that, our kitten said meow. This wasn't scripted but the scene is so beautiful. We have 100s of instances like these which were unplanned and yet surreal.