For Aishani Shetty, life could go through a sea change after the release of her film, Vaastu Prakara. An aspiring actress who never took any acting lessons, Aishani got her big break when the film’s director Yogaraj Bhat chose her after many auditions. He thought that she was perfectly suited to the character he had sketched. Currently pursuing her graduation, the actress has been balancing her burgeoning film career with her studies. Speaking to City Express, she revealed the truth about her unfortunate debut, her relationship with her co-stars during the making of Vaastu Prakara and the impact the film has had on her.
On her first break
My first film was Jyothi alias Kothiraj, but it did not click with the audience. In fact, people do not even know that such a movie was ever made. But to give it its due, it was because of this movie that I was called for the audition of Vaastu Prakara. For someone like me who has never entered an acting school nor done theatre in school or college, such a big-banner film is a huge step.
Being herself
When Yogaraj Bhat picked me, he did not tell me the story of the film. He only described the character and made me understand that I play a role of a teenager who is going to turn 20 through the course of the film. He asked me to act my age. So the character allowed me to be myself. He even told me that the better I perform, the more he would improvise on the character. He is one director who writes the script five minutes before going on to the location. He also wrote the dialogues according to the way I was performing . The experience was profound and after Vaastu Prakara, I strongly believe that I have grown up to be a better person.
On her co-stars
Initially, I was quite tense since the star cast was huge and they were all big actors. But all of them made me comfortable. Jaggesh was the first person I met on the sets in Switzerland. He is a big star but his humility is amazing. He is very spontaneous and would make use of anything around him to improvise on the character. Rakshit is quiet and humble on the sets. Parul taught me how to carry myself and Yogaraj kept teasing us for being like sisters on the sets. I interacted a lot with Anant Nag and Sudharani. They were not only my parents on screen but on the sets too. Anant Nag used to talk about his past experiences and would help me enact my scenes also. I was like a little baby for everybody.