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Playing Gujarati surrogate mom in Dukaan, Monika says she went to the state before the shoot to perfect her body language for role

Shouldering a film is a big high. No wonder then Monika Panwar counts the surrogacy drama, Dukaan, as her most special project. Since the actor plays a character based in Gujarat in writer-director duo Siddharth-Garima’s film, she went to the state well before the shoot to work on the body language required for the role. “I went to Gujarat two weeks earlier to begin my observational exercises. Mingling with the locals, imbibing their energy, and picking up on their body language and dialect is the most practical way of getting into the character,” says the actor, who was previously seen in Super 30 (2019) and Jamtara—Sabka Number Ayega.

Perfecting the accent wasn’t initially easy. She credits the director duo for helping her pick up the language. “One can’t dive deep into the accent as it has to be comprehensible to the audience. At the same time, it can’t be superficial. So Siddharth-Garima and I decided that they will coach me in the language. They have good command of Gujarati as they have worked with Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Ram-Leela [2013], and were clear on which words needed to be emphasised to lend the local flavour.”

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