Medha Shankar opens up on working with Shaadisthan's cast; calls it an 'absolute pleasure'

Actor Medha Shankar has been garnering praise for her debut feature film Shaadisthan on the OTT platform Hotstar. The film, which stars Kirti Kulhari, Nivedita Bhattacharya, and Medha Shankar as leads, revolves around Arshi (Medha Shankar) and her family, who have a traditional mindset and want to marry her off against her wishes. Medha Shankar recently spoke about her experience working with her co-actors.

In a media statement, she said, "It has been an absolute pleasure working with this entire cast- including Kirti, Nivedita, Rajan, Ajay, Shenpenn, and Apurv. Everyone brought such authenticity to their characters." She added, “Most of my scenes were with Nivedita and we got along very well from the word go. We always had our inside jokes going and would always be chatting and giggling off-camera, when Raj Sir, our director would look at us smiling saying ‘you know I can hear your jokes na’.”

Shankar revealed, “Kirti is a super chill and fun person to be around and there's so much to learn from her. I truly look up to both these incredibly strong actors and feel grateful that I got a chance to work with and observe such brilliant actors." She continued, “Also, I was fangirling big time when Kay Kay sir came on set and asked him a lot of questions about acting and improvisation. Most importantly it has been such a valuable learning experience working with our director Raj Sir”.

Medha also went on to speak about her character and how she prepared for it. She said, "Arshi is a regular 17-year-old Bombay girl with average dreams of going to college, making a name for herself, having fun with her friends and living a free life like any other 17-year-old”. She added, “To prepare for my character, I created a personal, social and emotional life for her as a means to give a certain wholeness to her being and to understand her more deeply as a person.”

The actor revealed, “I strongly believe in and stand by the message the film sends out. I could instantly connect to Arshi's pain, angst and her whole emotional journey through this predicament, which started with fighting her parents, crying, pleading, running away and then finally surrendering to her fate. I would just genuinely feel her pain and despair, and glide into her emotional headspace."

Shaadisthan cast, trailer and more

The trailer for this drama was released on June 4, 2021, and the audience is excited to see the film. The trailer begins with a voiceover from Arshi's father, who says that they missed their flight to Mumbai because Arshi ran away from home. His nephew suggests that they join his musician friends who are also travelling to Mumbai. It is later revealed that her parents are forcing Arshi to marry against her will. Sasha, the band's lead singer, tells Arshi's mother how a woman in today's society is not even given the opportunity to fight for herself. She continues by saying that women like her fight so that women like Arshi's mother don't have to in their world. Sasha also tries to convince Arshi that she will have to fight every step of the way in the world she is being sent to.

Aside from Medha, the film's cast also includes Kay Kay Menon, Nivedita Bhattacharya, Kriti Kulhari, and Rajan Modi. It is produced under the Opticus Inc brand. The film released on Disney Plus Hotstar on June 11, 2021. Watch the trailer below.

Image: PR handout