Actress Neha Sharma — seen as the lead in films like Crook, Youngistaan and Tum Bin II — now stars as a newbie navigating through the perilous and powerful world of law and lawmakers in the web series Illegal, streaming on Voot. The show — led by veteran actor Piyush Mishra’s turn as a legal eagle — also stars Akshay Oberoi, Kubbra Sait and Satyadeep Misra. The Telegraph chatted with Neha on being Niharika in Illegal, life in lockdown and why she’s playing dress up at home!

Neha Sharma with Piyush Mishra in Illegal Still from the show

What made you pick a show like Illegal?

As an actor, one is always looking at doing interesting things… meatier roles… stories that turn out exactly the way on screen like when they were narrated to you.

I think Reshu (Nath, the writer of the series) has done a great job. When I met Sahir (Raza), the director of the show and Samar (Khan, its creative producer), I realised that a legal drama is something they both wanted to make and they were really passionate about it. Just the way they spoke to me initially… how they had been working on it for a while and the way they wanted to execute it, had me excited.

Also, I felt that Reshu, being a woman, had a lovely, woman-centric take on everything and that kind of hooked me from the first narration itself. Those are the things, as an actor, that you are always greedy for. When we started filming this, web was a relatively new platform and Voot was also semi-new and those were the little things I was a little unsure of. Of course, we love watching stuff on the web, but it’s still coming up in India. But I was very sure about the story and the script right from the beginning.

Is Niharika the most challenging and layered character you have played so far?

Definitely. It’s one of the meatiest ones I have played, though my role in my short film Kriti (co-starring Manoj Bajpayee and Radhika Apte) was pretty interesting. From now on, I am looking to do more stuff in this space because it really gives me a lot to play with.

What kind of preparation went into playing the part of a wide-eyed, young lawyer and understanding the world she walks into?

I am a spontaneous actor and for me, a lot of it is acting-reacting. I am not a very trained actor. On this show, the makers had already done a lot of prep beforehand. I have lawyers as relatives, but I had never been to a courtroom or even to their offices. This was a brand-new world for me.

The makers wanted to bring alive on screen the banter between lawyers when they are not in the courtroom, which is also an aspect that people are not generally aware of. Cinema usually deals with the banter in a courtroom and not outside it. Reshu had done a lot of homework already. I was also asked to watch a couple of other legal-centric shows just to understand how lawyers behave in general. Every actor — including someone as senior as Piyushji (Mishra) — was open to doing readings and in 15 sittings, we finished the whole script.

Is Niharika anything like you?

For me, it’s always more exciting to play someone who is not at all like me. But unfortunately or fortunately, whichever way one wants to look at it, the characters that I get have things in common with me… always. There are things about them I can’t relate to also. But the fun would be to play someone who is not at all like me.

I always look for a negative role to play… which hasn’t happened yet. But I really want to play a dark, crazy person… which I am not! (Laughs) As an actor, you can be so many people that you are otherwise not. I never choose scripts on the basis of whether the girl is like me. I don’t want to play myself… I live with myself, and it isn’t fun! (Laughs)

Niharika is very outspoken and foot-in-the-mouth situations happen a lot with her. She doesn’t want to say some things out loud, but she ends up saying it anyway… and I have done that a lot! (Laughs) Even in my profession, it’s not a good thing to have an opinion about things. She travels from Bangalore to Delhi for her job. So this whole thing about a new lawyer trying to make it in this cutthroat world, passionate about her work, great work ethic… all of that I have. Then there are these humane things, like interpersonal relationships… the kind of equation that Niharika shares with her best friend is like what I have with my sister (Satyameva Jayate actor Aisha)… we share everything… we talk about everything, unwinding when the day gets over…. Any working girl will relate to another working girl in many ways. Niharika has empathy for the most part, but she’s also cutthroat because that’s what her profession demands. I think I do have a good work ethic.

What’s life in lockdown been like? I have been seeing quite a bit of cooking, baking, painting…

There are a few things that you really have to do, like cook and clean. Making my bed every morning gives me the sense that the day has begun on a clean note (laughs). I have always been passionate about cooking, but working in the kitchen really takes a lot of time. Thankfully, my sister does all the cleaning after the cooking, which really is the most annoying bit (laughs). You could love cooking but the amount of stuff that you dirty and need to clean after is a huge mess. Thankfully, my sister is around and we also have a dog that keeps both of us entertained and occupied. I am sure she keeps thinking that hope this gets over soon and we leave her alone (laughs) but now we have our dog to play with. Also, I am making time for hobbies, like painting, that I couldn’t do earlier.

I am spending quite a bit of time thinking about things, whether it’s good or bad, I don’t know. Honestly, there are days when I am disturbed and down and thinking about what’s happening. I am refraining from taking in too much information right now. There are good days and bad days, but most of them are great days (smiles).

You are also keeping the humour alive… wearing a dress to the dining table and pants for a walk to the couch…

(Laughs) You have to, no! Otherwise what’s the motivation? Even washing my hair and blow-drying it is now an event (laughs). It’s really strange times. I do such crazy things once in a while. Imagine what will happen when we really have to wear pants and go to work one day?! We’ll be like, ‘Oh my god, is this happening?!’ When I wear pants now sometimes, it feels so weird! I keep asking, ‘Dude, how did we wear this every day?!’ (Laughs)

We have become used to wearing shorts and pyjamas at home. So as funny as it may seem, we have to keep dressing up. For people who do Zoom calls for work, they need to wear proper clothes… on top, at least! For me, Zoom calls and Insta lives are few and far between, so I dress up once in a while at home. Just to keep sanity intact, one needs to do what one needs to do. I hope we get back to some semblance of what was normal, with a few changes here and there. Let’s hope for the best!