Priya Bapat’s Process

Anything can trigger an actor’s imagination. For Priya Bapat, it was a still from Jabbar Patel’s Umbartha (1982) where the late Smita Patil is dressed in a white saree, standing by a pole. Patil doesn’t play a politician in the film, but Bapat found inspiration in the way she held herself, and used that to convey the power and poise of Chief Minister Poornima Gaikwad, in Nagesh Kukunoor’s City of Dreams on Disney+ Hotstar. For Poornima’s panic attack in Season 3, Bapat recalls a similar experience a woman had in Dubai which she was witness to. “The brain and body file all these memories,” she says. The memories are then channeled of their own volition. “You have to be present in the moment and it comes to you,” she adds. The series sparked speculation as some assumed Poornima is based on Poonam Mahajan or Shalini Thackeray. Bapat would not comment on that but says, “I had to lock myself up to channel that calm energy. I also studied some body language experts to understand how to hold myself. And finally there was the script.” In her latest work, the anthology, Zindaginama on SonyLIV, where she plays a Bihari woman, she was reminded of her own grief at losing her mother. Her work in SonyLIV’s slice-of-life series, Raat Jawaan Hai, was less intense but not less complicated. She plays one of three friends who avoids confrontations, lets things be, and is not particularly the life and soul of the party, yet manages to hold her own. Bapat was a well known Marathi actor before she starred in the Hindi series City of Dreams and now feels she can work across all languages and platforms. A Hindi series for Prime Video is coming up for her. Apart from this, a Hindi film, Visfot, was recently released on Jio Cinema. Bapat also does Marathi theatre every weekend, even as she hopes to create her own space without being typecast.

Adulting with Shilpa Rao

Shilpa Rao’s voice is distinctive, deep, passionate and soulful. No wonder she sings for Deepika Padukone (‘Besharam Rang’ from Pathaan, 2023) and gives her voice to songs such as ‘Kaavaalaa’ from the Tamil movie Jailer (2023) and ‘Chuttamalle’ from the Telugu movie Devara: Part 1 (2024). It is a testament to the diversity of India that as a Telugu woman, she grew up in Jamshedpur, trained as a statistician in Mumbai and sings mostly in Hindi. Coached in singing by her father, Rao has interest in Western and Indian music. There is a knowingness in her voice, unlike the voices of most women singers in Indian cinema who tend to sound sweetly romantic. Rao’s voice is for a woman of the world, who can shimmy on the beach while also flying a helicopter and taking down a few baddies. It is a voice that would earlier be confined to vamps but is now proudly used by heroines across languages. It is clear that Rao’s persistence has paid off. Usually a song succeeds if the movie works as well but Rao has often sung for movies that may not have worked at the box office. The songs though have been memorable, for instance, ‘Tose naina’ from Anwar (2007) and the title track from Kalank (2019).

Meet Sai Durgha Tej

Sai Durgha Tej is related to superstar Chiranjeevi through his mother Vijaya Durga, who is Chiranjeevi’s sister. Nagendra Babu and Pawan Kalyan are his maternal uncles while actors Allu Arjun and Allu Sirish and their father Allu Aravind are related by marriage through Chiranjeevi. Sai grew up with actors such as Ram Charan, and yet he had to struggle to land a role in the Telugu film industry. He remembers when he would find his portfolio photos used as food wrappers and would find that he was rejected at auditions. But he kept his faith, and the result is that he is now a popular star, beginning with the hit film Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitham in 2014. Since then, he has built a solid career for himself. Earlier in the year, as a mark of gratitude now, he changed his name to include that of his mother, Vijaya Durga, going from Sai Dharam Tej to Sai Durgha Tej. He says, “My grandmother Anjana Devi, my mom and younger sister Madhavi are my biggest sources of happiness.” Another actor who accords prominence to the women in his life is Shah Rukh Khan, who gives his heroines top billing. There is also Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who decided to honour his mother by taking her name. For Bhansali, it was a way of thanking his mother and his sister by taking on odd jobs when his producer father died.

BollywoodcinemaPriya BapatSai Durgha TejShilpa Rao