Actress Janki Bodiwala is currently basking in the success of her film Shaitaan, in which she played the role of Ajay Devgn and Jyotika's daughter, who gets controlled and tortured by R Madhavan's character. The psychological thriller, based on the themes of 'vashikaran', is the Hindi remake of the Gujarati film, Vash, in which Janki played the same role, and earned praise.
In an exclusive chat with The Free Press Journal, Janki says that Shaitaan has been a "learning experience" for her. "Ajay sir, Jyotika ma'am, Madhavan sir, all of them are too good at the work they do. I learned so much just by seeing them and the fact that how prepared they were whenever they arrived on the sets latched on to me."
Throughout Shaitaan, Janki was seen pushing, hitting and going all out in attacking Ajay and Jyotika, but there was one particular scene in which she slapped the former that became one of the highlights of the film. The 28-year-old actress reveals she was nervous to shoot the scenes with Ajay, but the actor took it upon himself to make her comfortable.
"There was this dining table scene in the beginning when the family first starts to witness my character's madness. I had to push Ajay sir very hard and I was quite nervous. So I only acted like I was pushing him, but he asked me, 'Why are you acting? Push me directly. Only then will the audience feel the scene and the energy, the rage.' He was very sporty about it. He taught me that it was all a part of our job and there was nothing wrong with it. During the slap scene too, I didn't really hit him but we followed the actor's technique where we only gesture that we were doing it, but he was very focused on making me comfortable and I loved that," she shares.
Post Shaitaan's release, the audience was moved by Janki's performance, especially in some of the most gut-wrenching scenes. But the actress says that she was not traumatised. "I knew what I was signing up for when I got on board Vash, and later, Shaitaan. I was prepared to deal with the toll that my character would take on me. Plus, the environment on the set also matters. I saw my co-stars snapping out of their roles as soon as the cameras were turned off so I felt if they could do it, then I should learn it too," she avers.
Going ahead, Janki says she would like to take her sweet time and choose the script that interests her, be it in Gujarati cinema or Bollywood. "I am reading scripts, but I don't have any specific plan or role on my mind. I will take up a project if a character clicks with me, irrespective of it being Gujarati or Hindi. So right now, I am just hoping I come across such a story and get back on the silver screens really soon!" she concludes.
