Gurbani Judge aka Bani J plays the unapologetic badass Umang in Four More Shots Please! Ahead of the launch of Season 2 of the Amazon Prime Video series this Friday, The Telegraph chatted with the badass Bani on being Umang and being herself.

When you made Season One of Four More Shots Please! did you think it would go on to become so popular?

A lot of people have asked me whether I had any expectations going into the show… all I can say is that I was very excited to be part of something like Four More Shots Please! It’s a woman-centric show that is produced by a predominantly female crew — whether it’s the director or the DoP (director of photography) or any other department, they are all headed by women. That, in itself, made Four More Shots Please! such a pioneer project to be part of, especially in a country like India. And also, it was India’s first Amazon (Prime Video) original series. All of these things were such landmarks in themselves that I didn’t think stuff like, ‘Log kya sochenge?’ I just felt like this was such an important show to be part of that nothing else mattered. I had a lot of conviction in what I was doing.

I was in Nature’s Basket in Bombay right after Season One had come out and a group of senior citizen ladies came up to me and said, ‘Hey, aren’t you that girl?’ And I was like, ‘Which girl?’ I am known for a lot of things and so I had no idea what they were referring to. They were, ‘Oh, you are one of those four girls, no? The ones who always drink and party!’ (Laughs) They were sweet… they said they liked the show and felt it was an important show in today’s times. Initially, I wasn’t sure whether they were being serious or just making fun of me! (Laughs) But I found them really cool… they were over 60, and for them to like the show was pretty special.

Bani with Maanvi Gagroo, Sayani Gupta and Kirti Kulhari on the sets of Four More Shots Please! Still from the show

Surprisingly, a lot of men are also fans of the show…

Ya! I have had a few men coming up to me at the gym and saying, ‘Hey, great show’. They also told me they related to the show and I was kind of stunned… I was like, ‘Really?!’ It was so unexpected (laughs).

Umang wears her sexuality on her sleeve. Is that something that made you want to sign on, given that you naturally gravitate towards the unconventional?

Yes, I was excited about the fact that the show required me to play a bisexual character. I was very happy that I was chosen for the part because I always felt I could do a lot of justice to Umang. During the entire season, never did I doubt — not even for a second — what I was doing. It just came very seamlessly to me, the emotions and the body language flowed naturally. I had no doubts or questions about what she did or said. I basically made Umang a character like someone I could easily know.

Did you find anything of yourself in Umang?

Whatever character I play, I try and find a semblance of myself in it. For, acting has a lot to do with relatibility, for the actor as well as for the audience. But then again there are so many things that Umang goes through in her life that I can’t relate to at all, though I have seen it happening to other people. So every time something like that happened to Umang, I would tell myself, ‘Okay, I can bring some of that experience into this’. Relating to a character, of course, makes things a whole lot easier.

Love is love: Bani J as Umang with Lisa Ray, who plays Samara, in Season 1 of Four More Shots Please! Still from the show

What was the energy like on the sets of Season 2? Did you guys continue the chemistry and camaraderie from where you left off in Season 1?

Oh ya… 100 per cent we did! When the four of us meet, even when we are not shooting, we just hit it off immediately. It’s nice to have this kind of friendship that transcends work. The kind of chemistry that I share with Sayani (Gupta, who plays Damini), Kirti (Kulhari as Anjana) and Maanvi (Gagroo as Siddhi) makes everything so harmonious to deal with when we are on set, whether time is running out or the set-up has got delayed or whatever it may be. The understanding that we have with each other makes things flow a lot better. The chemistry increased exponentially in Season 2.

Besides acting, you are into fitness, reality television and a whole lot of other things. How serious are you about your acting career?

I like to do a lot of things. I basically pick projects depending on where I am mentally and creatively at that point of time in my life. Four More Shots Please! came to me at an amazing space in my life when I wanted to take up a very serious acting project that challenged me and showcased the fact that I can act. I was pretty happy to be able to do it… and by the time Season 2 came along, I was even more amped up because I felt very secure in Umang’s skin. I always feel that anytime I want to do something, it just naturally happens and I have a lot of faith in the universe to bring me projects that I want to do at that point of time. I am very creatively inclined, whether it’s in front of the camera or behind it… just taking pictures, painting or creating a clothing line or being part of a podcast. Even the fitness videos that I shoot for my Insta have a lot of creativity. So, acting is another creative outlet for me, it’s not about choosing one over the other.

You come across as being very real in whatever you do. What’s your message, especially for a lot of women in this country, who are expected to conform all the time?

I really wish I had a step-by-step manual for this (laughs). But I don’t. It’s not that I don’t struggle with people judging me. There are so many people close to me who really don’t understand me and they misjudge me, which is really hurtful. So I can only imagine what it must be for younger people.

Dealing with being misjudged and misunderstood doesn’t ever get easier. You get used to it, but it never gets easier. You are human at the end of the day, right? I try and not pay too much attention to it and I don’t brood over negativity. I am very good at training my thoughts towards positive things. I also think I am able to shrug off negativity faster now because I have been facing judgment ever since I was pretty young. There’s no option but to go through it… how you use it to rise above it and make yourself better is what defines you. Just deal with negativity as positively and in as badass a way as possible. Just become the bigger person, no matter how much it annoys you. It will just help you in the longer run.