Pooja Bisht: Delay in releases are hurting actors as well

The pandemic has slowed down the release of many projects, and along with its makers, its actors are eagerly awaiting their projects to be released. Actor Pooja Bisht, last seen in the film Mushkil (2019), says her six projects are due to release.

“Most of my work has been done during the pandemic and has piled up for release. Due to pandemic waves, everything has shaken up, not just in theatre but on web releases as well. The makers are still in a dilemma on how to go about releases and its hurting actors as well,” says the actor on her visit to Lucknow where she has shot for series Slip (2020) with Aniruddh Dave.

Bisht adds, “Not just theatres, for OTT too everyone wants to release on the leading platform and with big projects lined-up for web releases, medium and small budget films are not getting good releases in frontline OTTs as the wait is too long. And, there is no point in releasing on just any platform.”

Telling us about her projects she says, “I have shot for film Dark Cheers starring Rajiesh Duggal, psychological thriller series Flawed; in the film Hari Om Hari, I have a small role but I am paired opposite Ranveer Shouri, OTT series Country Mafia, film Lucky starring Sunny Leone and have recently done an item song for a South Indian movie. Now, gradually I see projects finding proper release dates.”

Hailing from Kotdwar (Uttarakhand) she was in a cabin crew of an airline when the reality show Spitsvilla happened to her “accidentally”.

“Then I started modelling in Delhi. During that period, I did an item song for the Punjabi film Maazi which had Pankaj Tripathi and Manav Kaushik and it was sung by Mika Singh. That gave me a lot of recognition and I headed towards Mumbai. I won a sub-title in a beauty pageant. Thereafter Mushkil happened.”

“My last music video Chal Jhooti also worked well. Next, I will be shooting a show in Lucknow with my Dark Cheers director Dushyant Pratap Singh,” she tells.

The actor says that being in the glamour industry she likes to challenge herself with experiments. “I love playing the grey character as it keeps me on the edge. In Country Mafia, shot in Varanasi, I play a labourer from the UP-Bihar border. GOW fame actor Aditya Kumar is playing my husband in the film and my main conflict is with Ravi Kishan. To play something which you are not in real life is a different experience which I enjoy. At the time, it’s very satisfying to wear no unnecessary make-up and be in a realistic zone,” she adds.