Sandeepa Dhar: Would’ve been apprehensive if not for Imtiaz Ali

After starting her career on the big screen Sandeepa Dhar is enjoying her time on the web exploring myriad characters Her two upcoming shows could not be more different While SonyLIVrsquos Dr Arora sees her as a Morena woman whose husband seeks the help of a sexologist Tera Chhalaava on Hungama Play has her playing her first negative role Dhar talks about the two offerings the multitude of experiences and the joy of working with Imtiaz AliEdited excerpts from the interviewTwo consecutive shows are coming out How excited are youThe excitement will come once the shows release and I get the feedback As of now it is sheer nervousnessDr AroraHow did Dr Arora happenI auditioned for Dr Arora and forgot about it because I was shooting for other things About 15 days later I got a callback from Imtiaz Alirsquos office stating that they liked my test and Imtiaz wanted to talk to me They set up a Zoom call because I was in Pondicherry at the time I was nervous about getting on a Zoom call with him because it is one thing to talk to someone on a call and another to have a facetoface chat I didnrsquot want to leave a bad first impression I couldnrsquot sleep the previous night because I was nervous about meeting Imtiaz You expect directors to have an aura but Imtiaz doesnrsquot have any of it He spoke to me as if he had known me forever I couldnrsquot process the fact that he was complimenting my work He told me about the show and my character I was shocked when he asked me to come back and read the scriptAlso ReadSandeepa Dhar Chattis Aur Maina allowed the dancer in me to flourishThe show revolves around a smalltown sexologist How did you react to the subjectWhen he told me the subject I was intrigued because Imtiaz is known for making love stories I would have been apprehensive of the subject if it was not with Imtiaz He brings credibility The show wonrsquot make you cringe or uncomfortable From the writing you can tell that they used the subject to educate with a tinge of humour My parents and their generation might feel uncomfortable about the subject because they come from a certain conditioning We are the second most populated country in the world and still shying away from discussing sex That said todayrsquos generation is far more comfortable talking about itStills from Tera ChhalaavaHow did you prepare for the roleI had to understand the culture of people in Madhya Pradesh The show is set in the rsquo90s When I was younger during winter vacations we used to go to Delhi from Bangalore En route Irsquod often notice these doctor ads When I would ask my parents about them they inadvertently shut me up As part of my prep I had to learn about the people from Morena and their lifestyle in the rsquo90s I had to emulate how they speak and their body languageAlso ReadImtiaz Ali Can call the shots on my turf not hereHave you seen the seriesI saw it in titbits while dubbing Archit Kumar director Sajid Ali director and Imtiaz have justified the writingImtiaz AliYou also have Tera Chhalaava up for release Was it easy to switch to a negative character after Dr AroraThis is the first time I am playing a negative character We prepped for three weeks before the shoot Kabir Sadanand director was part of the anthology and asked me if I was interested Since Kabir was in Goa we did a lot of readings on video calls It was difficult to find that darkness in me I had an interesting journey to figure Anjali out and understand her morality