Telly tattle: Newbie Saloni Vora on set; Tanuj Virwani on shifting base

All set for her maiden bow in the OTT space, newbie Saloni Vora will be seen playing the role of Falak Sahni, a soft-spoken romantic girl who is full of ideas and poetry in ALTBalaji's July release, Bebakee. The show also features Kushal Tandon.

The growing trend gets yet another addition to the list as Saloni Vora is all set to make her foray into the digital space with ALTBalaji and ZEE5's upcoming offering Bebaakee, all set to stream this July. Over the past few days, the show has been in the news for all the right reasons owing to its talented star cast that features the likes of veteran actors like Ananya Khare, Suchitra Pillai, Krutika Desai. The show also features popular stars including, Kushal Tandon, Shiv Jyoti Rajput and Karan Jotwani in the lead roles.

All excited for her first web series, an elated Saloni says, "I feel blessed and delighted to get a chance to debut with Bebaakee. With such a great story and an amazing ensemble, I really couldn't have asked for a better start. My character Falak in the show is extremely feminine and has different layers to her character. She's someone that I can relate to some extent. I have put a lot of heart and sincerity into the role, and I am sure the audiences will love my character."

The story of Bebaakee is based on the lives of Kainaat Sahni and Sufiyaan Alqazi, two contrasting characters with strong personalities. Kainaat is a simple and happy-go-lucky girl who has her goals firmly set in her mind, while the guy hails from a rich family. Their love for journalism sees their paths collide, leading to the pair feeling a high sense of chemistry between themselves. The puzzle arises when the duo simply cannot seem to figure out if this vibe between them is going to be followed by love or hate. What follows next is an unforeseen chain of events that begins to shake Sufiyaan's close-knit family and their business.

Shifting base

After coming onboard two new series, 7th Sense and Line of Fire, Tanuj Virwani has taken a break from Mumbai's chaotic life and shifted to his farmhouse. He says, "I've moved to Lonavala until work resumes."

Mood for romance

Alan Kapoor is set to enter Pyar Ki Luka Chuppi as the new love interest of Aparna Dixit, who plays the character of Srishti. The show will take a one-year leap after the lead characters separate.

Slambook: Qaran

One thing you will never share with anyone?
A USB stick with my unreleased music.

Your celebrity crush?
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand prime minister. She handled the pandemic like a boss.

If time travel was a possibility, where would you go?
I'd go back to 1933 and ask Hitler to chill.

What did you last fantasise about?
Competent political leadership.

Which same-sex actor are you crushing on?
Hrithik Roshan.

In search of logic

Gone is the time when just any fantasy sequence would work on the small screen. Actor Vikas Sethi says that even in fantasy shows, there needs to be some logical justification behind sequences. "They need to be done tastefully and there needs to be some coherence in the story. See even if you create a fantasy world, you have to create some rules and logic of that fantasy world. You can't just show things because it's convenient and for a thrill factor. We need to learn from Hollywood to create good fantasy shows which also portray basic human condition in them, even though in a very imaginative sense. There has to be some logical grounding to fantasy shows. In fact, human fantasy is more interesting and there is a lot more drama in it," he says.

In fact, the actor says that many shows have improved their content after the advent of the web. "I feel, this new medium has provided us with great new opportunities and there can be a lot more exploration. In fact, some of the content has even improved and certain kinds of shows that we wouldn't have even imagined getting on air or reaching the audiences before, are now seeing the light of the day. It's an exciting time to be in the business of storytelling," he says.

However, Vikas adds that the way of acting remains the same in all three mediums, all that changes is the pace. "Acting is acting, irrespective of the medium. When it's a TV soap opera, which I have the most experience in throughout my career, the time for preparation is less. A daily soap opera production involves constant shooting because new episodes are telecasted almost every day, so its hectic. But good actors always pull it off nonetheless. In OTT and movies, the environment is a bit more relaxed, but it also depends on how the production is scheduled and many other factors," he says.

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