‘I wouldn’t want people to see me as Tamannaah on screen’

We happen to see the trailer of Tamannaah Bhatia’s upcoming series November Story that will premiere in Disney+Hotstar on May 20 and found it to be riveting. The actress though liked to hear positive feedbacks on it says she has been giving interviews in such ‘strange times’. “As we talk, I couldn’t stop thinking about what millions of people across the world are going through. I was thinking about how am I going to do it because this second wave is virulent than the first” she begins. Tamannaah herself tested positive for COVID in October and had put up posts saying how she bounced back to normal in a few days’ time. Opening up on it she tells us, “Initially, I couldn’t understand what was going on with me. I had this pressure of getting back to work as I am passionate about it. I had to take all that effort and pain to get back to normal.” 

The conversation veers towards November Story in which she plays Anuradha Ganesan, an ethical hacker. “I heard the script and shot 90 per cent of it before the first lockdown last year and I completed 10 to 15 per cent of it seven months later when I got back to work. We were in a different mind space altogether,” Tamannaah reminisces. She feels that web series and OTT content are more of a writer’s medium than the director’s. “The director of November story Ram is also the writer. The writing needs to be top-notch for the audience to be hooked to it,” she remarks. Adding to her point, Tamannaah lists out two things that made her intrigued by the script of this series. “It is the characterisation—she is a typical Chennai girl who gets into a situation. The way she handles it makes the plot extraordinary. The way Ram narrated it is something else that made me agree to it. It gave me an opportunity to do something new. I want to engross myself into the characters I play in front of the camera. I wouldn’t want to see me as Tamannaah on screen. So, for the first couple of days Ram and I discussed so much about the characterisation. In fact, we had to reshoot a few portions because we felt they didn’t shape up well,” she reveals. 

The actress gets candid on the preparation part and shares a few interesting things from the sets. “Prepping for a series doesn’t work like how it does for a movie. In the latter, it is all about continuity whereas here to stay in the skin of the character I need to know what has happened in previous episodes. If I am shooting for the third episode, I need to how Anuradha was in the first episode and how will she be in the subsequent ones. So, an assistant director would take me through the sequences on location every morning. It’s a different ball game altogether,” she smiles. 

Tamannaah who has aced the game across industries in her 16-year career says not once she has hit the saturation point. “I am here since when I was 15 and it has been 16 years. Fortunately, that feeling hasn’t struck me ever. I feel like I am in a new phase in my career because the content has changed. It is like starting all over. I am not exaggerating but there was this day I was feeling low. Do you know what I did? I put on my makeup and I just sat there to feel better. It is because that is what I do everyday—wear my makeup and go to the sets to entertain my fans,” Tamannaah concludes.