Smita Poojary (DNA; September 9, 2019)
Surveen Chawla, who played Jojo Mascarenhas in a web series headlined by Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, won praises for her performance. She played a shrewd, headstrong woman who didn’t fear Ganesh Gaitonde (played by Nawaz). “The character added an interesting arc and a graph to the series. Apart from it being directed by Anurag Kashyap himself, it had great writing,” says the actress about the show. The chemistry between Surveen and Nawaz became a talking point. “Doing scenes over the phone was difficult, but I think the volatility of the equation between Jojo and Gaitonde is the most interesting part about them.”
About the Manto actor, she says, “He is a very easy person to work with and is one of the finest actors that we have. When I went on the set for the first time, I thought he would be intimidating, but it wasn’t like that.” After Ugly and a short film Chhuri, the web series marked the third collaboration between Anurag and Surveen. “Reuniting with Anurag is always fun. To be honest, he is an actor’s director and he will get the best out of anybody. It’s a treat to work with him and given an opportunity I would literally die to work with him,” gushes Surveen, who was pregnant at the time of filming.
She says Anurag and the whole team of the show were extremely co-operative with her. “The team was extremely flexible with me and my comfort was given the first priority. Anurag would make sure that the scenes are sent to me on time. I was really pampered a lot through the shoots,” she adds. Surveen started her career with television soap operas and later she made a move to the movies and then featured in web shows. When asked which, among the three does she like to do more, the Hate Story 2 actress states that she prefers films and the digital space. “Television shows in our country are still not experimenting much, so that’s out of the list for me. It’s not satisfying at all. As far as films go, today content is changing and there’s a lot of experimentation that’s going on with new age writers and filmmakers. So, everybody’s focusing on content for a change which is great,” she elaborates.
Blessed with a baby girl in April, Surveen says her life has got better. “It’s become more fun on a daily basis. There are new things to discover with every passing day and it is a beautiful experience.”
TV is out for me. It’s not satisfying at all-Surveen Chawla
