Anushree Shukla, the multidimensional personality, talks about wearing several hats, organising events all around the world and some fascinating facts about her podcast, The Nush Corners, in an exclusive interview with The Pioneer.
Tejal Sinha
Not just as an actor but also as a voice artist, Kathak and Bhangra dancer, Anushree Shukla has developed a great sense of love for the arts. Also, as the lead organiser for Myna Speaks, an initiative of the Myna Mahila Foundation supported by the Megan Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, she has also worked towards discussing women’s menstruation issues in India.
She also participated at the Cannes Film Festival this year. As an actor, she has played a gamut of roles, from being a handmaiden to a landowner to a school-going teenager to supernatural characters and characters with mental illnesses in Hindi. She’s given so much to her art that one of her roles required learning and rehearsing in Marathi! Meanwhile, as a voice artist, her diversity really just increases. “For an upcoming Netflix film, I’ve replaced the actor’s voice to be British English,” reveals Anushree. In Strange Destiny, her character required an Arabic accent, which was extremely interesting to perform. She’s also voiced an American accent in Masaba Masaba and a French accent in Aranyak. Speaking of some unique skills she has picked up for her characters, she shares, “The most interesting skill was learning martial arts for my character Devra O Neal, a warrior princess for Paul Hacker’s book adaptation, The Gathering: A Quest for Steel. We shot the film in Manasa Valley Hills, Hyderabad, the same famous location where Baahubali and KGF were shot. It was a medieval epic fantasy action, so I had to climb and hike steep rocks, sword fight in large barren lands and perform a martial arts sequence on top of a hanging cliff. Luckily, I love the outdoors and have been hiking, rock climbing for many years, so that experience played to my advantage.”
Hosting events across the globe offers unique cultural insights. And for her, it’s always interesting travelling to host different events. She recalls, “I was in Assam to host the 4-day Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival and the most important cultural insight a host can adopt is pronunciation and language. Apart from ensuring that the event was running on time, that everyone’s bios were correct, humouring the filmy audience and asking insightful Q&A questions, it was very important to learn the correct Assamese pronunciation of films and filmmakers’ names.” Likewise, at Cannes, she hosted Tasveer Matchmaking: Find Your Funds, where they had about 180 filmmakers meet 18 funders, many of whom were from all parts of the world. It’s important to ensure that while a lot of the crowd is South Asian and ‘Hinglish’ comes naturally to her, many might feel excluded, so she was asked to speak only in English. “The same goes for when I hosted the Tasveer Film Festival in Seattle. But one commonality amongst all the events is crafting the message in a fun and digestible way for the audience. Also, people love josh and dancing.”
Well, in this interview, we also mentioned her collaboration with the Myna Mahila Foundation. So we further spoke about the same and she shares, “Well, back in 2019, I worked with Myna’s founder, Suhani Jalota, to create Myna Speaks 2019. It was a one-of-a-kind event where we spoke about the challenges of menstruation in the urban slums. Brought together panelists, industry leaders, advocates and young girls to discuss the health and sanitation issues, social taboos of periods and tangible education-cum-employment opportunities for women in slums. Apart from organising the event, I also hosted it and kept the tone informational and the decorum formal but urgent.” In 2023, she started her podcast called The Nush Corner, where she interviews actors, directors and film professionals about life, habits and movies. Basically, it is a way for her to showcase her fun personality while doing what she loves best—meeting new people and learning about how they became who they are today. But the challenge she faced was “being my own crew, writer, director, interviewer, coordinator and editor. Luckily, I have the support of the best co-producers and we received immense love and support from our friends, family and audience. But if I were to do it all over again, I wouldn’t be so hard on myself every time I was behind schedule or did not edit and post on time. I speculated that every beat and instance would transition perfectly. Sometimes setting unrealistic goals restricts you from completing the very task that gives you joy. Season 1 features the strongest women I know: Malvika Nair, Salonie Patel, Sonia Rathee, Mona Shetty, Pranati Rai Prakash, Anushree Mehta, Yogita Bihani and Rita Meher. Season 2, while in it’s nascent stages, will now include some of the coolest men I know too.”
On the work front, she has played the lead antagonist in a horror short which is in post-production right now and there are talks about developing it into a series! Then there is Prison; the film in which she played the lead which was screened at the Kolkata Literary Carnival on a 70-mm screen, it was surreal. “I also directed my first short film, which is in post-production right now and have another project I’m signed onto in the pipeline but can’t speak much about,” shares the rising star, adding, “Every stage gives you a new sense of ease in your speech, and I’ve definitely evolved in the way I ask and answer questions. And of course, speaking about what you know and keeping silent when you have nothing to add is always a great approach.” She cites the example of one of her favourite films, Lapataa Ladies, as the perfect prime example of social change as she says, “Without preaching to the audience, it showcased multiple scenarios where women found strength in their independence—financially, physically and educationally.”
