After an intense act in Guilty last year, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor has also come in for praise for her performance in Spotlight, one of the four short stories in the Netflix series Ray. Based on Satyajit Ray’s short stories, Spotlight, directed by Vasan Bala, has Akansha in the part of an actress who matches Harsh Varddhan Kapoor’s self-obsessed film star Vik beat for beat. A t2 chat.

The Ray experience

There was a lot of fear, honestly, because there are so many Satyajit Ray fans. And Vasan sir (Bala, director) did stray quite a bit from the original, among all the four short stories in Ray. Everybody liked the story and the performances. We lucked out with our film because people didn’t really complain that we had failed to reach a certain standard. It was highly original, it was our own little thing.

It’s a small part and I didn’t know how much of an impact I would make. So I was surprised when people said, ‘You’ve grown so much from your first film’. When I went in, I thought my impact could be a hit or miss. But the fact that everyone noticed me... a lot of calls, my Instagram was buzzing... showed me that my role spoke to the audience, and I am really grateful for that.

Being Anuya

I signed this project without reading the script. I wanted to work with Vasan sir, I wanted to be part of a Satyajit Ray story and after Guilty, I wanted to be back on Netflix. So it was a no-brainer for me. I jumped at it. When I heard the part, it resonated with me and most actors will say that the toughest characters to play are the ones that are closest to you. Anuya is close to who I am, but then again, I couldn’t play myself. And that was the challenge. Vasan sir helped me find the middle ground between Anuya and me.

Chemistry with Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor

We have known each other socially, but have never really hung out. For Spotlight, we started our readings on Zoom because it was during peak lockdown, and then we directly met on set. And that intense fight sequence that our characters have happened on the first day of shoot itself. The chemistry between us was just there... it was funny and stupid and we just got along. We are very good friends now.

We are very different kinds of actors. He’s methodical, he’s a cinephile... I am spontaneous and impulsive. In that one scene, we just flew.

Understanding of Ray

I am very bad with watching the classics. When I signed this, I wanted to watch some works of Ray, but Vasan sir told me not to watch anything till we finished shooting. He felt if I watched anything earlier, I would lose my spontaneity and what I bring to the table. Once we were done, sir gave me a bunch of stuff to watch, from Pather Panchali to Feluda.

The way forward

I don’t think too ahead. If I read something and if I feel I want to see that on screen, then I go ahead with it. The next few films I have signed (among them is Monica O My Darling, co-starring Rajkummar Rao, Radhika Apte and Huma Qureshi) have nothing in common with either Ray or Guilty. But they spoke to me.