Comedy tougher than any other genre: Actress Nityami Shirke
Mumbai, May 9 (IANS) Actress Nityami Shirke, who is playing the protagonist in the comedy web series titled “PM Selfiewallie”, says comedy is much more challenging than other genres because one has to maintain a balance between being funny and not silly.
“I think doing comedy is difficult over any other genre because there is a thin line that one has to maintain between being funny and being silly. In the show ‘PM Selfiewallie’, the character I am playing…She is naive, a bit clueless about Indian politics and how she is supposed to behave as a prime minister of the country.
“The fun is coming from there. She is not doing something unnecessarily to grab attention. She is behaving normally in her own way. Throughout the show, I had to maintain that. The challenge for me was to be genuine and true to the character,” Nityami told IANS in an interview.
The actress went through an extensive audition process before bagging the role. She says acting was never on her cards and it happened by chance.
“I used to be a dancer, so I always loved performing, being on stage and entertaining people. I love watching and participating in musicals. However, I never thought to take acting professionally. So when the opportunity came, I gave audition and read the script, I thought why not trying out acting? I loved the script,” Nityami said.
The story of the show, which is streaming on the OTT Platform ALTBalaji, revolves around the story of a young girl who was born and brought up abroad, and incidents lead her to become the prime minister of a country, and how she struggles to fit into the role.
Born in India, brought up in Australia and having extensively travelled to New Zealand before coming back to India, Nityami has global exposure, much like character that she plays in the show.
So, was there any reference point she got from her own life?
“The character I play is also brought up abroad, but she is completely clueless about Indian politics and even the society, tradition, culture. I am certainly not clueless.
“Though I have grown up abroad, I have watched a lot of Indian films, which is a big part of Indian popular culture. It also a reflection of Indian society. My parents are very much culturally rooted. So, my personality is different from what you see on-screen,” she said.
Pointing out the similarity, she said: “The character speaks her mind as a PM and her opinion on decriminalising homosexuality, opinion on gender equality is similar to all of us young Indians… I think that is a similarity or connecting point.”