Hailing from small-town Alwar in Rajasthan and growing up in states across the country thanks to her father's transferrable job, Shivaanii Rai has a never-give-up attitude towards life. "The struggle in the film industry has been painful yet beautiful. It has taught me a lot and made me what I'm today and has essentially been a journey of self-discovery," tells Rai, who grabbed eyeballs for her act in Vivek Oberoi and Rohit Bose starrer short Verses of War.
Helmed by director Prasad Kadam, this film sees Shivaanii play an Army Officer's wife. When an Indian Army officer gets caught in Pakistan, the Pakistani officer finds a diary with him containing poems and verses. The story shows how the two gradually create a unique relationship after discovering their shared love for poetry and recitation and how that leads the Pakistani officer to meet his wife in India. What brings him to India forms a vital part of the plot.
"I play the role of the wife of the Indian Army officer essayed by Vivek Oberoi and my Army background helped to a great extent. But my main concern was whether I would look too amateurish in comparison to Rohit and Vivek on screen since both of them are such seasoned actors. Also, I wanted to portray it flawlessly despite the little time I got to prepare and hence I practised a lot off the camera," tells the actor, who had previously been seen in the short film The Wallet starring Naseeruddin Shah besides the film Friday.
Shivaanii started pursuing acting as a career after a stage show in Hyderabad, post which she realised she had it in her. Having no relations in the film industry, it took Shivaanii 5 to 6 years to understand how things work in Bollywood. "I had no friends in the industry who could possibly help me with work but eventually, I figured out things for myself," adds the actor.
Shivaanii feels that the OTT platforms have been a boon for struggling actors like her, where they can explore several options, though the struggle for an outsider still largely persists."Right now, I am not in a position to choose the characters I play and I believe every role can be turned into an interesting one depending upon how much one can relate to the character," says Shivaanii who is s a great fan of Mani Ratnam and Shoojit Sircar and would love to work with Shahrukh Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Saif Ali Khan someday.