Shweta Tripathi Sharma: What we show in Paatal Lok, Delhi Crime, Escaype Live is actually sanitized reality

Shweta Tripathi Sharma was just 13 when she appeared in the Disney Channel sitcom Kya Mast Hai Life in 2009. A few years later, with some short films and a number of advertisements added to her portfolio, Shweta made her Bollywood debut with the 2015 film Masaan. In between her TV sitcom and her film debut, Shweta explored a number of other career options– including working as a photo editor for the woman’s magazine, Femina, working at a post-production house, and running her own theatre company called All My Tea Productions. Also Read| Shweta Tripathi Sharma: The stage has given me my husband

However, Shweta’s one true goal had always been acting and she was only waiting to get the right projects. She told HT, “I wanted to be an actor since…I can’t remember, from KG. Literally, I wanted to be an actor since I was in kindergarten. I had an interest in acting, drama, debate, and everything on stage.” Shweta referred to a line from Shah Rukh Khan’s movie Om Shanti Om, in which he says that the whole universe comes together to help you if you love something with all your heart, and said that she thinks that’s exactly what happened to her. She said, “Because I love acting, no matter how difficult it gets–be it the reviews, be it the feedback that you get from everybody. I do it for the joy I get when I am on set.” She also noted that she has always been choosy about scripts as she prefers quality over quantity, and feels lucky that the kind of scripts she wanted have come her way.

Although the first Bollywood film Shweta shot was Haraamkhor, alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the first film that came out was Masaan, opposite Vicky Kaushal. Masaan also marked the first lead role for Vicky, who has since appeared in films like Uri, Raazi, Sardar Udham, and more. Asked if they ever discuss how far they have come since Masaan, Shweta said, “I believe if you do something from heart, it will definitely yield some good results. And he is one of the finest actors we have, and he is such a great human. He is one of my favourite co-actors. He is very talented, of course, but he is one of my favourite dancers as well. It feels good when talent is appreciated.”

Shweta’s latest release is Escaype Live, in which she plays a Banarasi girl for the third time (after Masaan and Mirzapur). The Disney+ Hotstar show, which also stars Siddharth and Jaaved Jaaferi, deals with the dark side of social media–how far will one go to achieve their dreams and get rich. The show follows six users of the app called Escaype Live as they cross every boundary and limit in a bid to win a grand prize of ₹3 crore announced by the app’s makers.

Asked to comment on the opinion that a section finds the influencers’ actions in the series a bit far-fetched, Shweta said, “I want to tell them to read some newspapers, see some news channels. There’s a lot of pain. Be it any show- Pataal Lok, Mirzapur, Delhi Crime, or Escaype Live, what we show is actually sanitised and filtered. What’s happening in the world is scary and we should be uncomfortable about it and have conversations about it.” Shweta noted that the way she uses her phone and internet has also changed since she did the series.

Shweta has a number of projects in her kitty right now, including the much-anticipated season three of the Amazon Prime Video show Mirzapur, in which she plays Golu Gupta. Shweta refused to reveal any details about the series except that Golu will be seen doing ‘a lot’ this season.

Shweta will also be seen in the second season of the Voot series The Gone Game. She also has a comedy film, Kanjoos Makkhichoos, opposite Kunal Kemmu. She will start filming for the second season of the Netflix series Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein in the coming months. She also has M for Mafia, a Sumit Saxena directorial, in which she will play an acid attack survivor.