Sharvari is having a moment. In a year that has seen big films with big names failing, the young actor has just scored a Rs 100-crore blockbuster with the horror-comedy winner Munjya and is earning praise for her turn in Maharaj, alongside Junaid Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat. What’s more, Sharvari is also part of the big-ticket Yash Raj Films (YRF) Spy Universe, starring with Alia Bhatt in Alpha. A t2 chat with the stunner.

Munjya has entered the Rs 100-crore club. Maharaj is at the top of the Netflix charts. You must be on cloud nine!

It is an overwhelming feeling to even have two projects release in the same month. It has been an incredible month for me! The love that people have been pouring on me as an actor empowers me to do more good work. It empowers me to go after the kind of work I want to do.

We are so grateful that Munjya has earned Rs 100-crore. It is overwhelming that people are calling us ‘the 100-crore club’. I am so grateful that so many people made the effort and bought tickets to go and watch our film. That thought and that emotion, for me, is really special.

That is a huge feat in a year when so many big-budget films with big names attached to them have flopped miserably. The success of Munjya goes to show that if a film is engaging, people will make the effort to watch it...

A hundred per cent. We were always so positive about the film we had made. We never really thought about the what-ifs. I feel that when the heart is in the right place, a film will work, and the audience somehow found that heartbeat in our film.

What hooked you about Munjya when you were offered the film?

Munjya, as you know, is part of folklore in the interiors of Maharashtra. I am a Maharashtrian myself and I am very, very proud of my culture, my roots and my language. I have grown up watching a lot of Maharashtrian films and Marathi theatre. It influenced my life and my decision to be an actor.

When Aditya sir (Aditya Sarpotdar, the director of Munjya) told me about the concept, I was so proud that a film with a story like this was getting made at Maddock (Films, the producer of Munjya). Maddock has huge reach and I knew that this story would reach every single person in India and not be limited to just the Maharashtrian belt.

That, for me, was a big deal because I wanted to represent my culture and this story. Aditya sir is an incredible director and he has made some fantastic films in Marathi, which I had always been a huge fan of. To do this film was a no-brainer for me.

During the narration of the script, what really hooked me was the moment when my character (Bela) gets possessed by Munjya. That was the most exciting part for me because as an actor, you are always looking to do different things. I wanted to do something that people don’t expect from me. The biggest compliment for me is when I am told things like: ‘We didn’t expect you to turn into a monster!’ The aim always is that whenever the audience comes to watch me, they should be blown by something new and different

Was that the scene that challenged you the most?

Absolutely! Putting on the prosthetics was very challenging. It took us a couple of look tests to first get it right. It took us five hours to put it on and an hour to remove it. A lot also had to be painted over the prosthetics in order to resemble the bark of a tree and that took a long time and was very tedious.

Also, we shot the film in the Konkan area in temperatures that went up to 43 degrees on some days. I used to have the prosthetics on and I felt no breeze on my face for hours together. It was very difficult. But that Munjya has got so much love makes everything worth it.

What was the experience of being a part of Maharaj? It is a brief but pivotal part...

Maharaj is a very special project and I got to play a special role in it. I was very excited to do because it was a different language and set in in a different era. There was so much that I could do with that! I am really greedy as an actor. To play Viraj in Maharaj, I had to learn a little bit of Gujarati. I have a few Gujarati friends and I used to talk to their moms every day because I wanted to get the dialect right. After one point, I learnt up the lines like a ratta popat! (Laughs)

You have just beaten some big names to make your way to the top of IMDb’s list of the most popular actors this month. What does that mean to you?

Honestly, it means the world to me! Munjya is just my second film (after Bunty Aur Babli 2) to be released in theatres and what has happened for me and for the film so far validates me as an actor. It gives me a lot of confidence. I can now choose the kind of work that I want to do, choose the kind of films I want to do.

So early on in your career, you are a part of two big universes — the horror-comedy universe and the YRF Spy Universe. How much does that tell you about how far you have come in your career?

There is a long way to go but, of course, these are two very big IPs in Bollywood. Both these universes are headed by such big stars and to even have my name attached to them is a huge honour. When I see news articles with my name written in the same sentence as the biggest superstars that we have is such a humbling moment for me. It takes some time for it to sink in.

I have always dreamt of something like this. It has happened so fast that it does take some time to sink in. Sometimes, it feels too good to be true. I just want to focus and keep my head down and work really hard because as exciting as it is, it is also nerve-wracking to be a part of such big projects.

You have a biggie coming up in the form of Vedaa, with John Abraham, which is an Independence Day release...

Vedaa is a very special film. I never felt what I have felt when I shot Vedaa. The experience has been enriching, not just as an actor but also as a person. To get a titular role at such an early stage of my career is a huge responsibility and for a master director like Nikkhil Advani to believe that I can shoulder something like this has been the biggest compliment that I will ever receive, to be honest.

It is a festival release and that is a huge deal. We are hoping that we can entertain the masses because Vedaa is an absolute mass entertainer. There are some incredible action pieces which I think our audiences have never seen before. There is a really beautiful story at the heart of the film.

Are there any contemporaries whose career trajectory you admire and hope to follow?

The choices that Alia Bhatt has made in terms of her films have been extremely empowering for me as a woman. To sit in the audience and watch her... be it Raazi, be it Darlings or be it Gangubai Kathiawadi. Apart from the fact that she is one of the most exceptional actresses that we will ever see, she has given us stories and characters that have truly inspired generations. That is a journey that I have always been very inspired by and hopefully, I will be able to do such projects in the future.