Samyukta Hornad prefers to maintain suspense, especially when it comes to her roles. She reasons that her characters are usually placed in such a way that if told, the entire story is revealed. That’s the case with her upcoming film Traya, in which, the actor plays a pivotal role. “I had completed shooting for this film a year ago.
The subject is basically about a mishap that takes place with three boys, who are looking to have a fun night, which unfortunately goes wrong. Traya is a suspense thriller, and according to the director, I am the surprise element in it,” explains the Lifeu Ishtene heroine.
Samyukta feels she is currently in a good space in her career because she is getting to play both positive and negative shades.
“My roles from Dayavitu Gaminisi to Arishadvarga, Mysore Masala have been diverse. In Mysore Masala, I play a cop; in Nayeem Diaries I am featured as a Naxalite; my role in Redrum and the Telugu project features me as good and bad.
“I am in between these two shades, and I am falling in love with such roles. A couple of directors who have been observing my work have felt that I am not following a predictable pattern. That gives me a kick,” says the actor, who is currently attracted towards playing negative shades.
“I just want to be honest in what I am doing. I love exploring guilt, hate and darkness of a character. Not because I relate to it, but because I am curious about it. Somehow, I end up receiving such roles,” she says, admitting that she has made some wrong decisions of choosing ‘careless’ films.
“Somewhere, the wrong move has been a blessing in disguise, and has made way for different kinds of roles. I feel all my bad decisions have indirectly helped me. Today, my approach towards the script has changed and I have learnt to say ‘no’ if I don’t like a story,” she tells us.
Samyukta, who has tried to pick out-of-the-box roles, doesn’t believe in the existence of ‘the girl next door’ characters.
“I can never forget that day when I was bullied in Mount Carmel College, and I was determined to get onto the silver screen only to be in papers, get popular and teach a lesson to those girls. I was a shadow. But my stay in Mumbai for a year changed my life and career goals. I took a six-month course at a theatre space run by Manoj Bajpai and group, when I realised I loved the camera. Today, I have dream roles to play,” she says.
Interestingly, this artiste took to art for a reason. “What I couldn’t do on silver screen, I painted it on the canvas. Though this art was accidental, I came to be known as a good artist, and in fact, managed to sell 25 paintings of mine,” says Samyukta, who has at least six releases lined up for herself. “I also have two new scripts, which I will be taking, one it is finalised,” she
signs off.