National award-winning filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj is making his streaming debut with Charlie Chopra & The Mystery of Solang Valley, a web series that revolves around the titular female detective, Charlie, played by Wamiqa Gabbi. The web show is an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Sittaford Mystery.
Actor Paoli Dam plays Saloni, the elder sister to Jimmy (Vivaan Shah), who is thought to be the murderer of Brigadier, and Billu (Imaadudin Shah), as seen in the trailer. Just like the other characters, she too is mysterious, has shades in her character and has a murder motive. But is she the murderer? We don’t know yet! In an exclusive freewheeling chat, she speaks to Indulge and gives insights from the show and her character.
In a previous interview, Paoli had said that however layered her roles might be, it needs to have some goodness for her to take it up. This one was no different. “I believe, however grey a person might be, even the smallest element of goodness is present in him. People are driven by situations, so we can’t really tag anyone as completely black or white. Saloni too is such a character. She has her reasons, her back story,” she says.
Sounding super excited when asked how it felt like bagging the role and playing Saloni, she says.“The day I came to know that I was on-board with the project, I was very happy! We actors have a bucket list you know, and Vishal Bhardwaj was one of the topmost directors with whom I wanted to work. We have known each other for years, but it took a few years to work together.
“He is such a name that everyone would love to work with. And even if he had offered me just one scene, I would have taken it! His knowledge is so vast, and you can sit down and discuss films, music, literature, current affairs, and everything under the sun with him. There’s so much to learn from him. And he’s a master at adaptations. Even our cinematographer, Tassaduq Hussain, is brilliant. He takes up only a few projects, but his frames, my God! You have to see it to believe it,” adds Paoli.
The series has an ensemble cast including some of the finest talents in the industry today like Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Gulshan Grover, Neena Gupta, Lara Dutta, Priyanshu Painyuli, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Imaad Shah, Vivaan Shah, Paoli Dam, Wamiqa Gabbi and many more. “There were 18 actors yet we had such a great bonding, and there was no facade. When the captain of the ship is such, what else do you expect? There were such senior actors, and juniors like Vivaan, Wamiqa, and Chandan and I were somewhere in the middle (laughs). Such huge age gaps, but there weren’t any disparities.
“Naseeruddin Shah is my all-time favourite, along with Soumitro Chatterjee. Shah and I didn’t have many schedules together but whenever we met we spoke. We spoke about Bengali theatres, his experience in Kolkata, Bengali culture, films, street foods and more. Like most, he too has that soft corner for Bengal, for Kolkata. And Ratna Pathak Shah…she made us laugh so bad every other moment that our tummies ached. She is so much fun to be around. Even Neena Gupta. She’s such a sweet and witty person. It was brilliant working with them,” concludes Paoli.
But yes, dreams did come true for Paoli, and as she says this is just a start!
The pilot episode of Charlie Chopra & The Mystery of Solang Valley is already streaming, the rest of the episodes will start streaming on SonyLIV on September 27.