Actress Anjali Barot is known for playing Jyoti Harshad Mehta in the popular web series Scam 1992. The actress is set to step into the shoes of an Air Force Officer in her upcoming series Shoorveer. The web show traces the journey of the creation of an elite task force in India called Hawks as they undergo specialised training to become the nation’s first responder team against national threats. In a conversation with us, Anjali opened up about the challenges of playing an Air Force Officer and recalled shooting in freezing weather in Delhi.
Speaking of the challenges she faced while shooting for Shoorveer, the actress said, “I remember shooting in proper Delhi ki Sardi (Winters in Delhi), and it was freezing cold, and while doing one scene my lips turned blue. And every time the shot is cut, the crew members would come with jackets, but it was not really helping. I think that was a little tough because it was freezing and we were wearing uniforms and obviously, you can’t layer it up. But, that is one of the experiences that helped me understand – my character Manju.”
Has things changed for her after the success of Scam 1992. The actress said, “Scam 1992 got a lot of love and appreciation. One of the biggest things the series got me is that I got recognition. Earlier, I used to get 5 scripts, after that I started getting 15 more, so the numbers increased. People saw me in a different light they started believing that I can pull of stronger, performance oriented roles. A lot of scripts with substance came my way, and it was a very good change, and definitely life changed for the better after scam.”
Shoorveer producer Samar Khan shared that the show focuses on the soldiers not just as armed professionals but as human beings. “We all know how they are warriors, but very less number of people know about their own personal stories. And after that, I got the chance because of the opening of the world of OTT. And even if you see shows like The Test Case, Code M or Avrodh, these are stories of the people who risk their lives for us, and it is an opportunity for us to showcase them as human beings, and not just as soldiers. We are delving into their real lives and how they are in their real lives, their fears, and their relationships. For me, the fascination always was to tell a story in which they are represented as human beings, and the inspiration came from there,” said Samar.
Director Kanishk Varma talked about the responsibility of portraying the armed forces in the correct light for the show. He said, “The script was already well researched. On top of that, we added our extra efforts to it. Representing the armed forces on the screen, was a very technical thing, and it wasn’t like that we were representing only one section of the armed forces but all of them. We didn’t want to get anything wrong with them. On top of that, you will have to be responsible, because we were showcasing our armed forces, and we didn’t want even a single scene to be wrong. We had the responsibility of representing the armed forces in the correct light.”
Besides Anjali Barot, Shoorveer also features Makarand Deshpande, Manish Chaudhari, Regina Cassandra, Armaan Ralhan, Aadil Khan, Abhishek Saha, Anjali Barot, Kuldeep Sareen, Arif Zakaria, Faisal Rashid, Sahil Mehta and Shivya Pathani. Shoorveer starts streaming on Disney+ Hotstar from July 15.
