Last year, actor Saiyami Kher played a paraplegic cricketer in R Balki’s Ghoomer to much acclaim. Then, there was 8 AM Metro, a story of an unlikely friendship between a man and a woman who run into each other on the Metro. Continuing her streak of playing characters with substance, she has now transformed into a firefighter in Rahul Dholakia’s Agni.
Kher shares that she greenlights a script only when the story has heart. And, Agni, is all heart. “I am embarrassed of my lack of awareness about women firefighters. These people save our lives and we are so unaware about this department,” says the actor, who debuted eight years ago with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Mirzya.
Kher informs that firefighting entails a lot of details that a layman is unlikely to be aware of, inlcuding how water mustn’t be used to douse fire if certain chemicals are involved, and how one discovers the source of the fire. These are things she learnt as part of the prep, which also included physical training on an obstacle course at Byculla Fire Station for a few days, something she thoroughly enjoyed.
What was most interesting, though, was speaking to women firefighters to understand what the profession demands from them in particular. “Some of their families are supportive while some aren’t. Many of them start at the young age of 22-23, and learn to deal with death at close quarters, so that also requires counselling,” she says. Needless to say, it has been an eye-opener for the actor.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to job satisfaction for Kher. She derives a sense of fulfilment from being part of meaningful cinema. Although her debut film did not fare well at the box office, the actor has had the good fortune of working with the creme de la creme of filmmaking, including Anurag Kashyap, Neeraj Pandey, R Balki and Ashwini Iyer Tiwari.
“There’s no denying the fact that commercial success is important in this industry. But, I have also learnt that one cannot keep living in the past, whether it is success or failure,” she says, adding, “I’m grateful that in spite of Mirzya not being a commercial hit, I’ve been able to work with good filmmakers.”
Agni, which also stars Pratik Gandhi, released on Amazon Prime on December 6, and the actor is hopeful that an OTT launch will help it reach audiences far and wide.
She is speaking from experience. Although Ghoomer released in theatres, it was only when it was streamed that it became the talk of town. She had a similar experience with 8 AM Metro.
“It has been a year and a half, but I still get 40-50 messages on my social media every day about it. So, the reach of OTT is something which is beyond my understanding,” she says.
Up next for her, is the next season of the web series Special Ops as well as a film with Sunny Deol with the working title Jaat. “It is an out-and-out commercial film, which is completely out of my comfort zone. I am excited about it,” she says.
Never say never.
“I’m grateful that in spite of Mirzya not being a commercial hit, I’ve been able to work with good filmmakers”
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