Manjari Fadnnis is really excited about her debut web film Barot House. The film based on a true story is available for online streaming on Zee5. The actress who plays the role of Bhavna Barot, says that though it’s a real life character, she still had to work on it. “Playing a real life character is as difficult as playing a fictional character. Though it’s based on a true incident, we have changed certain characters and written it as a film. I had to create the back story of the character while working on it,” says Manjari.
The Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na actress is sharing the screen with Amit Sadh. Talking about him, she says, “He is a fabulous actor. The kind of commitment and dedication he has for the character is rare. It was lovely working with him. He is very encouraging.”
This isn’t her first project for the web. She has already worked on the web series Fuh se Fantasy: The Blindfold (Voot). She believes that the platform is great for everyone working in the industry because there is such amazing content being created. “We are writing content which people otherwise might have felt scared to make in the film format as it may not release in the theatres. Not all producers are kicked about trying new kind of content because their concern is whether people will come to the theatre or not,” she says, adding, “The medium is giving a chance to writers to create different kind of content, and actors to experiment with different characters.” She shares that platforms like Zee5 are focusing on content-driven projects, which is amazing.
Her last few films — Baa Baaa Black Sheep and Nirdosh — got mixed reaction at the box-office. Considering that she has been part of both hit and flop projects, how does she deal with the latter? “When you finish a project, you have to let it go. Every film comes with its own destiny. Having said that, it’s always a gamble because after you complete a project, no one can predict whether it will work or not,” she says, adding, “I am always happy with the fact that I am doing good work and that’s most important for me. We cannot control box-office collections so there’s no point crying over it.”
But how difficult is it to detach oneself from projects they have worked on or from the fate the project? The actress replies, “The fate of the film changes the life of everybody who is attached to it, but I have slowly learned to detach myself from that aspect.” She recalls how, back in the day, she would really get affected by the failure of her films after putting in so much hard work into it. “There have been times when the film has come out well, but unfortunately it wasn’t promoted well enough. For example, I am really proud of 2013 thriller Warning. The film had a great potential as audiences love this genre, but it wasn’t promoted well. It hurt us but we can’t do anything about it,” she says before signing off.
