As Permanent Roommates star Nidhi Singh gets ready for her big screen debut, she tells us why Shakesperean stories have her heart
For a person like me, who is from Allahabad, to be on a film set is humbling and intimidating. I am just thankful I am getting to do this," says actor Nidhi Singh, as we chat with the Permanent Roommates star over the phone on a Thursday afternoon. Singh, however, is no stranger to fame. She went viral with the "Every Delhi Girl in the World" video, and then starred as Tanya in TVF's popular web series Permanent Roommates opposite Sumeet Vyas. This weekend, she debuts on the big screen as Sweety in Brij Mohan Amar Rahe. Directed by Nikhil Bhat, the movie also stars Arjun Mathur and Manav Vij, and is the story of a man who is convicted and tried for his own murder.
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Nidhi Singh
"The moment I was given the narration, I was hooked. I was constantly wondering 'What happens next?' All the characters are well-rounded, and the script has a real personality," she says. Her character Sweety is someone we all should aspire to be like — she isn't in the best of circumstances but she is the hero of her circumstance and that's what matters.
Nidhi Singh as Sweety in from Brij Mohan Amar Rahe
Ask her if she based the girl from Old Delhi on anyone she knows (given that she played a Delhi girl to the hilt in her viral video), she laughs, "No, actually. I have never known anyone like Sweety, so I had no way to prep. But her character is so well-written, and Nikhil [the director] had such a clear idea of who she was, that it became clear to me too. And despite him being so close to his creation, he gave me the liberty to give her my own interpretation. For example, there is a scene where Sweety is summoned to the police station. I just went with my instinct. And then, later, I told Nikhil, 'maybe my intent or tone isn't in sync with what you wrote. Should we do it again?' And he said no, you now know the intent very well," she explains.
Ask her what type of movies does she want to continue doing, and she says, "Anything, as long as it has room for something extraordinary — look at Shakespeare, he wrote across genres, but everything had an edge." For now, she hopes everyone comes to watch Brij Mohan without a pre-conceived notion, and "all they need to take away is this — it's about daily life situations that could happen to anyone. What matters is what we do with it."