Exuberant actress Shreya Narayan who played the sensuous ‘mistress’ who eventually gets killed in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster (2011) is now cast in a lead role character of a ‘pretty tough’ top-cop in her latest release titled Prem Mayee.
Interestingly, Shreya is romantically paired opposite suave actor Chandrachur Singh (of Tere Mere Sapne and Maachis) who will stage his ‘comeback’ of sorts after a self-imposed long sabbatical.
Isn’t the film-title a misnomer, considering that the movie is mainly about marital discord caused by a frustrated male ego ?
“Actually Prem Mayee (full of love) is more of an ironic title apt for this unconventional subject. Marriages are made in heaven, as they say, but sometimes the marital take-off could also land you in merry hell,” chuckles svelte Shreya who had to put on oodles of weight for her role as the senior IPS officer-cum-housewife.
She enthuses, “Had I looked slim and shapely, maybe my character would not have elicited the audience’s empathy. So it was essential to don the ‘tough-healthy’ yet deglam look. Moreover, I had to ‘observe’ real-life female top-ranking female police officers in small towns for their body language and stern style of talking .
And then with our talented movie director Shekhar S. Jha guiding us, it was possible to make my multi-layered character look authentic,” insists madame Narayan who feels that her movie ‘Prem Mayee’ promotes this subtle message that ‘love needs to be redefined’.
At times, ‘falling’ in love can also prove injurious! If your marital bonding is always pulling you down instead of helping you grow, its high time you defy social taboo and drift apart ,” shrugs Shreya who also has riveting scenes with co-actor Sanjay Suri, cast as a senior cop, who marches into her life as a catalyst-mentor.
The glib actress had a ‘blast’ shooting romantic scenes with co-actor ‘Rocky’ (that’s Chandrachur’s nickname).
Recalling a funny incident, she reveals, “During a lovey-dovey scene, Chandrachur had to pick me up and rotate around, wearing a blissful look. And he had ‘rehearsed’ the shot several times lifting several crew-members. But as soon as he lifted me, Rocky felt a stinging pain due to a severe catch in his back, and we both fell with a thud into a muddy-puddle behind. The cameraman was zapped for a while as we were totally out of his focus. Call it a hilarious off-screen crash-landing,” she chuckles away.