Actor Annup Sonii has proven his versatility over the years, having worked in theatre, films and television. The National School of Drama alumnus started his career with roles in television serials such as Sea Hawks and Saaya in the ’90s. One of his most popular television roles has been on the hit daily soap Balika Vadhu.
But Annup quit the show in 2014, and did not take up another fiction project on TV, despite it being super successful. He continued to be part of another popular TV show, as the anchor of Crime Patrol, and focus on films and web series.
The actor explained, “I left Balika Vadhu in 2014. My character had nothing more to do on that show story wise. From 2014, I did not do any fiction on TV, because I thought as an actor I need to explore more. Television shows. Like family dramas, can get really repetitive, because the audience is like that for that particular medium. And obviously people will cast me in certain kind of roles. Even if the project is successful, I’ll be stuck playing that role for 2-3 years. So I said, now I want to do a new role every month.”
But that did not happen immediately. “After I left Balika Vadhu in 2014, Crime Patrol became seven days a week. So till 2018 my time completely went to Crime Patrol, shooting almost 20 days a month. Then in 2018 I said I have to make a conscious move towards that otherwise it will never happen. Now, I give a set of days in a month to Crime Patrol and rest of the time I do my other projects, that’s how I have been able to do 3-4 web series in the past 1.5 years, which are going to release soon. Right now, it is a good balance. So I am focusing on more digital projects and short films, etc,” he said.
During the lockdown, Annup shot for a short film called Relationship Manager, that released on the YouTube channel of LargeShortFilms. Shot while maintaining social distancing, the film is centered on the issue of domestic violence. Annup and Divya Dutta play major parts in the movie.
Directed by Falguni Thakore, the film also features Annup’s wife Juuhi Babbar playing his onscreen wife. “We shot in a small setup, in a flat that was completely sanitised. We worked with a minimal team, just 6-7 people. And we had already rehearsed a lot in advance so that the tone matched, especially between me and Divya, because our conversation was the major portion in the film,” Annup described.
He was seen in the recently released Netflix film, Class of ’83, alongside Bobby Deol. Annup has also resumed shooting for new episodes of Crime Patrol, the long-running show he has been anchoring for several years now.
“I have started shooting for the anchor portion of Crime Patrol. That is easier for me because I am the only person there, talking to the camera, not interacting with anybody. It’s like a journalist reporting from some location. That’s also done with a very limited team. Every production house has taken care, and are following guidelines,” he said.
Annup also has a bunch of projects that were pending when the lockdown started. Among them is an independent film where he is playing the lead.
“It’s a beautiful film when I’m playing the lead role and it’s almost 75% ready. In fact, till 15th of March, I was shooting in Delhi for that. It’s being made by a documentary filmmaker in Delhi. Then there were two new projects that were to start in April, but they have been pushed,” he shared.
Annup did not come from a film background, and has survived on the basis of talent and hard work. He says the issue of nepotism that everyone is discussing right now is a huge waste of time.
“Nepotism is there in every profession. Why are we making such a big issue out of it? Filmmakers have the right to take whoever they want to. If a star’s son wants to become an actor, will he not help him? If my father was a star, maybe I would have also been launched as a hero. But that’s not the reality. So should I quit? No, I love acting. Instead of debating all this, I will focus my energies on my work. I come from a very humble background. Today people know me all over the country. Even a filmmaker’s son has to work hard, or he won’t last. We have lots of examples of that,” he concluded.
Comments
0 comment