Actress Amruta Khanvilkar, known for her work in Marathi and Bollywood films, is currently garnering praises for her performance in Hansal Mehta's web series Lootere. Amruta sat down for a brief chat with The Free Press Journal and shared her experience working on Lootere, the current phase of OTT boom, her upcoming projects, and more.
The actress shares an interesting story to reveal how she came on board Lootere. "I always wanted to work with Hansal Mehta. The audition actually happened in a funny way. I had gone to Mukesh Chabra for something else but then I heard that he was casting for Hansal Mehta's international web series. I told Mukesh I want to audition for any part for a project associated with Hansal. He told me that they can't do it but I asked him to do whatever it takes but let me give it a try. So I sat with the casting director and literally grabbed the opportunity. After Scam 1992 and Scoop, I really wanted to work with Hansal. To share the same set with him and to be able to have a conversation with him was great."
Amruta is the only female lead in the series. Sharing her experience of working with a male-dominated show, Amruta gushes, "In the show, a ship gets hijacked and there are a lot of men on board. Females are allowed only if it's a special case. Apparently, Lootere shoot was divided into two parts - land and water shooting. I had no part in the water shooting but, for me, it was fantastic because there was no female artist in the series and I got to take away all the credit (laughs)."
Lately, Amruta has been featured in numerous web shows and is relishing this phase of OTT expansion. However, the actress emphasises that she enjoys working for all the mediums equally. "I am not moving from Marathi to Hindi or from Hindi to web. Everybody is doing their best and in terms of what challenges them. Also, it depends on what kind of opportunity there is. Even after giving a Padmaavat and a Kabir Singh, I fell in love with Shahid Kapoor after Farzi. He did such a fantastic job. Web shows definitely come with their set of advantages. You get to see eight to 10 episodes that bring out the best of actors. So we should stop saying that actors are moving here and there. As an actor, the more the mediums, the more hungry I will be for entertaining people," Amruta states.
Amruta also believes that certain content on OTT should be censored. Amid the ongoing debate over it, the actress explains, "It should be censored, no matter what the content is. Teenagers and kids also have access to the content on OTT. Even if it is stopped on your TV or mobile, they might see it somewhere else on some other device. I remember watching a web series which was so dark that it had disturbed me. Of course, I am an adult and I can make that decision for myself but some content does affect your brain and how you behave after consuming that content."
On a concluding note, Amruta reveals what's in store for the audience next. "I wish to do more challenging roles where I play the female protagonist and work with some fantastic directors. I saw Heeramandi and my mind was blown. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is someone I'm manifesting to work with. I'm doing two Marathi films next, both are biopics," she signs off.
