After making her debut with Rishab Seth’s comedy-drama Cash, actor Smriti Kalra turns storyteller with Amazon Audibles’ Malang Ishq. The Mumbai-based actor who has many TV shows in her repertoire, plays the lead Rohini, in the podcast series that was launched last week. An elated Smriti tells us, “We have all grown up listening to stories from our grand parents and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to tell stories not to just one person but to millions of subscribers of the podcast platform."
One of the main reasons for taking up the podcast for Smriti was the novelty factor of the medium. “I have always been inquisitive about podcasts and it’s my first such project, so it was exciting for me. There’s so much of scope for the listener to imagine. Also, for me the underlining factor for any project is if I am learning something in return,” enthuses Smriti who loved this medium and is open to more such projects.
The romantic thriller follows the life of Rohini, who is married to an abusive husband but adores her step daughter. A relationship outside marriage, a web of lies and deception, and the murder of her husband forms the crux of the story. While the off-camera experience was satisfying at many levels for the actor, who believes that she won’t be judged just by her looks, there were challenges aplenty. “The fact that not my face but my voice would be the assessing factor for my acting skills is the USP of the project. The series is high on passion and drama and each and every sigh, dialogue, shriek had to be emoted just through my voice and with perfect precision. It was certainly challenging but I also learnt so much about voice modulation and the podcast acting,” says Smriti, who loves action films and would want to do one in the future.