Exclusive: Actor Kritika Kamra on playing a cop in ‘Gyaarah Gyaarah’

The unique concept and the script made me do Gyaarah Gyaarah. When I first came to know about the show I thought it’s just another police procedural, but when I started reading it, I realised it has the fantasy element to it which has not been explored before in any Hindi cinema or show. Another big reason for me was that I just finished playing a gangster, so for me to turn into a police officer on screen was an interesting opportunity. And with this character, I was getting to play a younger and an older version of myself. 

Yes, it is. And I think women actors need to be mindful about that because there aren’t many female parts written with much care and precision. Though it is a lot better now than it was a few years back, we don’t have a pool of many well-rounded female characters to choose from. I am not okay to be a wallflower anymore!

For me, the script has to be something that keeps me engaged when I am reading it. If I am not engaged while reading it, then I don’t think it’s gonna make a very interesting watch. I look for some sort of a uniqueness in the concept and something that hasn’t been done before. Also, I don’t want to repeat my characters, so I stay away from the sort of characters that I have already played before. I want to challenge myself with something that I haven’t explored.

Playing anyone in the uniform comes with immense responsibilities. It is also something that you don’t take lightly, and you want to be as realistic as possible when playing a real-life hero. So, I worked on my physicality, on my posture and demeanour, we did some training with guns and action skills, and I brushed up on my manual car driving skills. Apart from these, there was a lot of work on the internal life of the character, because she’s leading a tough life. There’s a sadness in her even while she’s on her duty. So it was kind of challenging to work on both mental and physical aspects of the character, but I happily deep-dived into it.

It’s been an exciting space for me. I am getting to do stuff that I enjoy watching, there’s diversity in the roles that I am offered, there’s diversity in the writings, and the sheer courage and the risk that the makers are able to take while writing make for a rich landscape of content. So as a viewer and an actor, I am very happy that I am able to be in the industry at an important time.

I am currently shooting for a show called Matka King, directed by Nagraj Manjule, and I star opposite Vijay Varma, and will be out on Prime Video. And there is one in the talks for a long time, a Netflix original, For Your Eyes Only, opposite Pratik Gandhi.