Geetika Vidya Ohlyan: When you get a director who handles you with care, you can thrive

Geetika, who reunites with Avinash Arun on School of Lies after Unpaused, says he is one of the few directors to value an actor’s vulnerability

If you’ve followed Geetika Vidya Ohlyan’s work over the past five years, it’s evident that she is on the hunt for stories that are at once unique and relevant. The tougher the role, the more she relishes them. So, it’s surprising when she says that she was initially hesitant about featuring in School of Lies. “I was petrified to play mother to a kid of a certain age. Then, Ishani [Banerjee, co-writer] explained that my character ended up being impregnated at the age of 19. She [is written as] a small-town woman who chose not to abort the child, at the cost of leaving the town. That defined her for me,” shares the actor, who was 
previously seen in Soni (2018) and Thappad (2020).

Avinash Arun

The Disney+ Hotstar series studies the impact of confinement on kids by narrating the story of a child who goes missing from boarding school. To Ohlyan, it offered another exciting opportunity to collaborate with Avinash Arun after Unpaused (2020). She praises the Killa (2014) filmmaker for valuing an actor’s vulnerability while shooting. 

Ohlyan says, “He understands that an actor uses his/her body to channelise a role, that they should be taken care of. When people come for auditions, the way they are spoken to is [mechanical]. They are told, ‘Stand like this. Do this,’ while being scrutinised. So, when you get a director who handles you with care, you can thrive in that environment.” 

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