29 August,2023 07:27 AM IST | Mumbai | Letty Mariam Abraham
Manjari Fadnnis
The process of prepping for a character is different for every actor. While some engage in workshops, a few prefer gaining insight from conversations. Manjari Fadnnis, who is set to appear in Disney+ Hotstar's The Freelancer, has the habit of writing the biographies of her characters. "It's just for myself. [I write details] from the time my character was born, including her sun sign, family background, dreams as a child, her inner world, and little moments in her growing-up years that would become emotional triggers in the present," she says, adding that she uses those moments as flashbacks in her mind to emotionally prompt the performance.
The extraction series, directed by Bhav Dhulia with Neeraj Pandey as creator-showrunner, is based on the book, A Ticket to Syria by Shirish Thorat. The Freelancer revolves around Mohit Raina's character, who is on an extraction mission for a young girl held captive in a war-torn, hostile environment in Syria. "However hard a human is, he needs someone in his life with whom he can let his guard down. That's where Mrunal [her character] comes in. She is Avinash Kamat's emotional anchor and his only family. However, Mrunal is coping with a past tragedy, [which makes her] mentally unstable, emotionally volatile, easily triggered, and vulnerable. She is on the road to recovery at a behavioural institute. [Despite] the turmoil, the love they share is strong and deep," says Fadnnis. The actor says that to understand dissociative disorder and perform it authentically, she had a sit-down with a counsellor, who gave her more insight. "I spoke to an accomplished psychological counsellor and friend, Kanan Khatau. I also did a little study on what a person deals with emotionally and mentally in this condition. And then, of course, I used my imagination. Besides that, the scenes were well-written [and researched], which has been a boon."
