Shriyam Bhagnani On Sumo Didi, Facing Body-Shaming And Working With Late Actor Nitesh Pandey | FPJ Exclusive

Shriyam Bhagnani is winning hearts thanks to her gritty portrayal of India’s first female sumo wrestler Hetal Dave in Sumo Didi. In an exclusive conversation with The Free Press Journal, she talks about the film, late co-star Nitesh Pandey and more. Excerpts:

How did you get into showbiz?

So I began acting in 2018. See I was very fascinated by this world till about like my second year in college when I started doing college plays. I went to a theater group in Calcutta. I grew up in Calcutta basically. Before that I was actually a tennis player. I used to play tennis at the inter-state level for West Bengal at that time. But for some reason, you know, I couldn't continue that. After that when I started exploring different things, that's when I started exploring acting. Not as a profession but it was just something I was trying. One day, my family moved to Bombay. So I never really had to, you know, move to Bombay like how the other actors do. And almost my first film was also cast like, you know, very strangely where I was walking around in Aram Nagar and somebody came up to me and said, ‘Do you want to work in a film?’ It was a very small part but I was, you know, auditioned like that literally.

So I think destiny has a huge role to play in me getting into acting. A lot of things happened on their own for me. But angel investing is something that I started very consciously because acting does not take up so much of your time.

How did you bag the role of Hetal?

I auditioned for it. Basically, I got a call from a casting company for an audition.

Prior to that, did you know of Hetal's existence?

Actually, I didn't. The day I got the audition, I didn't know about the production house also at that time. I didn't know about Hetal also at that time. And I didn't take this audition seriously. Of course I gave the audition and everything, but I did not believe that something would happen to this. But the moment I got the audition, I started researching about it, you know, I started googling about her, about the production, about the kind of films they make, about how little is what a journey has been. And the fact that it started with disbelief, like, oh, such a person cannot exist in our country. Maybe there's this blushing, faking, whatever. And when I started doing the research, I learned, no, this is actually there in our country. And all the more it made me want the role, like, you know, not really being affected by the audition to actually follow up with the casting director.

There are scenes in the film where you've lifted a gas cylinder and other heavy things... How did you prepare for such a physically demanding role?

It was a team effort. Like, you know, Jio Studios is such a fabulous studio in terms of how they provide. So at that time I was like this character, this film was provided with like a seven people team which consisted of a gym trainer who was training me in sumo and judo. There was a yoga trainer, there were physiotherapists. All of these things used to happen every single day.

What was the most challenging thing for you as an artist? The scenes where your characters clearly body shamed or the sumo wrestling scenes?

I think performing the scenes was not difficult for me. I didn't have to try much because very similar things were happening with me because I gained weight in real life and I was getting this kind of a treatment by people who didn't know about the same. Or the fact that, you know, I'm doing this for a purpose because it was nine months of training and of course I was looking very different by the end, right. And it took me a long time to get it off also, like the next one and a half years I look very similar because gaining weight so much also put me in a plateau and something, you know, in a way that it got me very difficult to move through. So I went through these things myself. And you're right about the fact that in our country, this thing is very prevalent where it's not just about the weight, it's about your height, it's about your complexion, it's about, about your gender, age… it's about all kinds of shaming that happens. And not just in our country overall, in the world. That's why these kinds of things make their way into scripts. Because art imitates life. So there's not a lot of effort that I had to put in because growing up, I've heard all of these kinds of things and like, you know, where people are just comfortable coming and telling you things about your own body. And I don't think that should ever be a point of conversation. Or do you think this person lost weight or the moment you meet somebody or you lost weight, you gained weight.

That's the first thing people tend to talk about, right? And this pressure, I feel like, you know, we must not eliminate men out of this. I think men go through this just as much as women do.I feel like it's just the women who are more expressive and they're able to, in general, be more expressive and are able to, you know, talk about this.

Your scenes with the late Nitesh Pandey, they are so endearing. How was it working with him?

Yeah, we all really miss Nitesh sir. I have watched his films since forever and my favourite work of his was, of course, you know, Om Shanti Om. I’ve watched that film so many times.

He had so much experience that every day he would tell us new stories about different sets or things he's learned. The thing that affects me the most is that he used to talk a lot about how he's depending on this film or like, he really likes this character. And he's hoping that this would, you know, open up a new era of characters for him. A new range of characters for him. Because this is a very different portrayal and he had not done something like this in a long time. And for this to happen, you know, it's so strange. He was there with us on the first schedule. He was not shooting in the second or the third schedule. But on the last day of the shoot, he actually came on set to meet us all and to, you know, give a closure to this thing which I've never seen any actor do. He came for the finale matches and he stayed and he clapped. He cared about me when the matches were shot. I feel like his time came way too soon. He should have stayed with us a bit longer. And I wish he also watched the film. He never got a chance to watch the film. And it's very sad whatever happened. He should have been here to see the praise that he's getting. You know, and I've been in touch with some of his family members and they also feel the same. I think this is his last film.

Published on: Monday, October 26, 2026, 07:00 AM IST