National Award-winning actress Manasi Parekh has opened up about her character in the recently released streaming series ‘Chumbak’, revealing that playing someone who constantly talks was physically demanding.
Speaking to IANS during the show’s promotions in Mumbai’s BKC area, Manasi appeared alongside Sumeet Raghavan, Sandeepa Dhar, Sumeet Vyas, Deven Bhojani and Neena Gupta.
Describing her character, the actress said she is very different from the person she is in real life and has a tendency to keep talking once she starts.
“My character in the show speaks a lot. There are people like that in real life who don’t stop once they start speaking, and they don’t give other people a chance to speak. The character is very different from me as a person,” Manasi said.
She particularly enjoyed the dynamic between her character and her on-screen husband, played by Sumeet Vyas. She said the contrast between the two characters adds an interesting element to the show, with her character speaking at length while her husband conveys what he wants to say in a single line.
Manasi also expressed her excitement about working with the ensemble cast and praised Vyas as a co-actor.
Asked whether constantly delivering lengthy dialogues was exhausting, the actress admitted that the role required considerable energy.
“It did take a lot of energy. But that’s the thing. Atish bhai is the source of our energy. He’s a genius,” she said.
Manasi credited writer-director Atish for making the characters so clearly defined on paper that the actors could bring them to life without additional pressure.
She said that when a character is not well written, actors often have to shoulder the burden of figuring out the character themselves. In ‘Chumbak’, however, she found the writing clear enough to simply follow the character’s established traits.
The actress described her experience on the show as an enjoyable one and said working on ‘Chumbak’ had been “amazing”.
‘Chumbak’ is currently available to stream on Netflix.
