Actress Deeksha Kanwal Sonalkar, who is part of Dangal TV’s Crime Alert, says that while she was always fond of dancing, acting was never something she imagined she would do.
She says, “I have been an actor for almost 10 years. The first show that I did was called Bani Ishq Da Kalma and it came out in 2013. I will complete 10 years in the industry, next year, as an actor. Other than that, I am also a classically trained dancer. I started working in Tv when I was in my second year of college and haven’t looked back since.”
Talking about her journey, she says, “My career in acting was not something that was pre-planned. I never thought I would be an actor. Though at the age of 15, when I was in the 10th grade, I was selected to perform a play. The play was called Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, which has also been adapted into a film called My Fair Lady, which had Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. I played Audrey Hepburn’s character and that was the first introduction to acting. Although I’ve grown up around music and musicians this play was the first time I sang live on stage. I have been dancing since the age of three, training under my mother and my guru. Post school, I just moved on to doing theatre. I worked with directors like Om Katare and other renowned theatre groups. I worked with Satyajeet Dubey’s group and also did Thespo. And it was a magical journey. It taught me a lot in my formative years and that has been like the foundation to what I am today. When I started doing TV, I did some good shows. I still get recognized for Maharana Pratap and for Khwaabon Ki Zameen par. I also gathered a lot of appreciation for my show on Netflix called Hasmukh.”
Talking about being on Crime Alert, she says, “I have done a couple of crime episodes before, on various channels. In 2015-2016, I did two episodes of Agent Raghav and that’s actually where I met my husband, Jason. I’ve done Crime Alert this year and my experience has been amazing. I felt so comfortable being on the set. Everybody was very focused on what they had to do. We had multiple readings and a lot of conversations with the director Arshima about what is it that she visualises and what is it that she wants.
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Deeksha says that she loved working with producer Mitu. “I have known about Mitu for a couple of years now, when both of us were working with Balaji Telefilms in different capacities. This time around, I got a call and the way she introduced herself, there was this very different energy on the other side of the phone. She brings a smile to my face very honestly and she has a very infectious energy. She is, in all honesty, like a child on set. She’s very focused on her work, but when it comes to taking a break she knows how to have fun too. On set also, when we were shooting nights, and people’s energies were dropping, she would just come in and go like, “okay, come on now! We’ve got to do this!” Everybody’s energies would just amp up at that point!” she says.
She adds, “When I was asked if I was interested in doing this role, the first thing that came to my mind was a big yes! It was quite challenging to play the character of Gia. I am a very big and ardent viewer of crime documentaries, and crime shows. And the reason that I love watching these shows is just to try and understand how the human mind works. What is the psyche of this person? And I think watching these shows kind of helped me prepare for Gia’s character, because I had to break her down and try and understand what is it that she’s thinking, and where is she coming from?”
