Maanvi Gagroo, who plays the perpetually-sunglass-wearing Goggle Tripathi in Hitesh Kewalya’s Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, is being praised for her quirky portrayal. The Telegraph caught up with Maanvi for a chat on the Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer…

Why are you called Goggle Tripathi?

Throughout the film, you’d see her in goggles and that’s why she’s called Goggle. There’s a scene in the film that reveals why she’s always in goggles.

What challenges did you face while shooting an entire film with goggles on?

I didn’t put make-up throughout the film. The only reason I do make-up is because of dark circles and here I didn’t need it. I used to get ready so fast, only the hairdresser used to come and put my wig on. It was very beneficial because I could be tired, under-slept and it wouldn’t show on my face. I could even sleep during the shoot! This was the fun part but it was very difficult while shooting. Hitesh and I had intellectualised the script and did workshops. But on my first day of the shoot, I was supposed to look at Ayushmann and look out of the window. Hitesh said, ‘I need you to notice this guy’ and I said, ‘I did!’ Then we both realised that we have to be a lot louder and would need a lot of body language. I’ve done theatre and when you’re on stage, you need to perform with your entire body but on camera you act mainly with your face. That just heightened my worry of being too loud. When Ujda Chaman released, people were saying that I act with my eyes. I’d take screenshots of those compliments and send it to Hitesh saying, ‘You’re hiding my biggest selling point, what is wrong with you?’ (laughs)

What brief did Hitesh give you about this role?

My only worry was that I didn’t want to be loud to the point of being jarring. I knew it was a loud character and the quirk of the character is in that. The characters are not that realistic and yet they’re relatable. I was worried that it’d get annoying and people would be put off by that. It was Hitesh’s concern as well. Till date, I have not understood Goggle and I just had blind faith in Hitesh without asking him questions.

How was it working with such an eclectic bunch of ensemble cast in Varanasi?

Apart from Jeetu (Jitendra Kumar), Manu bhai (Rishi Chadha) and Gajraj sir (Rao), I was working with everyone else for the first time. It’s also my first work as an ensemble cast. Jeetu and I kept discussing that it has its plus and minus points. We were on an outdoor, so we became like a literal family. I went to Neena ma’am (Gupta) and Sunitaji (Rajwar) with my personal problems and they listened to me. You form that bond, all of us are very close. But the negative is there are that many more personalities to handle and everybody is different.

Any fun anecdote to share from the shoot?

We shot in the Tripathi house for the maximum number of days. It was a great time because we were staying in tents… it was like a camp. Initially we were upset that there were no vanity vans but on the last day when we moved from there, we were crying! It became like a little family. If the weather was good, we used to sit outside, have tea and listen to music. We were there for two months and it was fun. But there’s nothing much to do in Varanasi, we went to Assi Ghat twice.

Your film Ujda Chaman and Ayushmann’s film Bala released around the same time you guys were shooting in Varanasi. Did the controversy make things awkward?

We used to laugh about it. Thankfully, we were away from Mumbai and from all the madness that was happening. We were in our own little world. I’ll give full credit to Ayushmann because on the very first day, he had a conversation with me. He said, ‘We are actors and we can’t let things between us get spoilt’. I was glad we talked about it. It was the beginning of the schedule and I didn’t know him very well, so I didn’t know how to approach him. Once we talked about that, things were fine.

Do you think talking about homosexuality through a commercial film will help reach a larger audience in India?

n I really think so. Just the visual of two males — one of them being a star — kissing, is something so new. We’ve never seen it in our films before. It’ll help normalise it. When we were young, kissing in Indian films was a big deal. We’d talk about that kiss between Aamir (Khan) and Karisma (Kapoor) in Raja Hindustani! But it isn’t anymore and now it’s very normal. So it’s about normalising it. It has been dealt with such dignity and sensitivity that I, as an ally of the LGBT community, do not mind it. With most of the other representations in mainstream cinema, I’ve had problems with. They have been for comic relief and caricaturish. I don’t know if this will change mindsets but it’ll spark a conversation and it’ll stay with you, for sure.

So, what are you working on next?

We have already started workshops and would start shooting for Four More Shots Please! season 3 soon.