Aanchal Singh is ecstatic following the release of Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein Season 2, feeling that the audience has finally understood her character Purva’s emotional journey. With the second season of the show receiving rave reviews, Aanchal has entered the limelight like never before. During a conversation with Filmfare, she opened up about her career trajectory, her transition from commercials to films and her aspirations. Excerpts.
It couldn’t get better from an actor’s perspective. It’s like my new beginning. The work that I did before this is getting recognised now more because of Kaali Kaali Aankhen. People have connected with my character Purva and understood her emotional journey.
Season one had more emotional challenges. Second had more of psychological and physical challenges. In season 1, we saw everything from Vikrant’s point of view. My character was mostly seen as an anti-hero, someone who is so obsessed with her lover that she’s trying to destroy his life. But for me, the story was never like that. When I took up this character, it was this girl who genuinely loved a boy. And since childhood, she’s only thought of being with him. In season two, we see she has a humane side. This time, there were a lot of action scenes also which was a bonus for me.
I don’t believe in the saying that beggars can’t be choosers. I believe that if you have a vision and a goal in your mind, you can pick up what you want to do. But it needs a lot of time, patience and consistency. I started with commercials and did 500 of them. Then I did a Tamil film which was a super hit, following which I trained in that language so that I was ready for other projects. I also did a Punjabi film. It’s been a rollercoaster ride like that. When I did something like Undekhi, I already had a lot of experience. Then Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein added more to my personality.
Did you face any discrimination because you came from an advertising background?
People feel that you do not know much about acting because you’ve done commercials. Because when you see a commercial, you just see a particular face for a few seconds. Only a few directors understand what it takes behind those few seconds. But it is difficult for people who have not done commercials to understand this. Commercials was my first step into this industry and before that, I did not know what a production house is or what is the difference between a cinematographer and a director. I learnt all those intricate things only on the sets of commercials.
I need to have a character which has depth, an arc across the story and a journey. I understand how to make out whether a script is good or not, but I think by the end of it, you can’t put on paper how the movie will be spoken about. It is a different product in the end. It’s about working with people whom you can trust and who will get the best out of you. You just have to trust that process because I don’t think there is any other formula.
I want to work with Rajkumar Hirani, Zoya Akhtar, Mani Ratnam and Imtiaz Ali among others. Today one can easily take these names and hope to collaborate with them because of OTT. Everybody is interested in taking newer people.
When someone asks me how long I want to do this, I say I want to do this all my life. I want to be here till my last breath. So I would say Jab Tak Hai Jaan.