Sriti Jha on her audio show: Education to portray a role only with voice

At the end of a hectic day Sriti Jha loves curling up with a book eager to lose herself in the makebelieve world So when the opportunity of narrating a story came her way the Kumkum Bhagya actor said yes in a heartbeat Jha who has often dabbled in spoken poetry has gone behind the mic to voice Ekta Kapoorrsquos first audio show Darmiyaan on Audible In a chat with midday she discusses the nuances of being part of an audio showEdited excerpts from the interviewDid you have inhibitions before taking up the audio showI have been consuming audio content mostly books for a while now So when this was suggested I was excited It is a completely new experience a new education to portray a role only with your voice I was nervous while going into it because I didnrsquot know how good or bad I will be at itHow has your experience been in listening to audiobooks so farSwitching to audiobooks from the written text was slightly difficult I started with listening to books that I had read before because usually a personrsquos attention span is low when it comes to audio Listening to Becoming by Michelle Obama was an interesting experience because she would often break into a song I also listened to three books of Yuval Noah Harari I can go on and on about The Sandman by Neil Gaiman the kind of environment the different actors have created is commendableDo you think there is a huge market for audio shows since we are so used to the visual mediumThere should be It connects my generation which hasnrsquot listened to radio plays to the past Reading books is not the most popular habit even though it should be Similarly with audio shows there will be a niche audienceHow difficult was this process for youThe most challenging thing was I couldnrsquot use my face to express my emotions I canrsquot turn around if Irsquom angry at someone or look away to hide my tears So I had to gulp a cry using breathing techniques I was guided throughout by my director It helped me grow as an actor too It was interesting to perform using my voice and controlling my breathingWhat about the story of Darmiyaan resonated with youMy character Sakshi is a devoted wife but her husband cheats on her She goes through the process of denial and acceptance but eventually she also discovers herself The audio showrsquos structure has her talking to herself while also telling her story She is on the path of selfdiscovery which was the most interesting bit for meHave you changed as a person after playing so many charactersOf course all my characters have aided my personal growth Most of them have an immense amount of patience which I donrsquot have in real life When you play a role every day there is osmosis of sorts where your personal traits become part of the character and vice versaDo you want to stick to television or are you keen to explore other mediumsI am an actor and it is such a beautiful time to be one because there are so many mediums to explore I am not very ambitious and am content with what I am doing I just believe in giving my all to whatever comes my way That said you never know where life takes youAlso read Kumkum Bhagya completes 7 years Shabir Ahluwalia and Sriti Jha get emotional