Actress Amruta Khanvilkar, who gave a flawless performance in the recently released series Lootere, gets candid with The Pioneer for our exclusive Celeb Talk segment and shares some BTS from the sets, some disturbing moments while shooting, and more.
SHIKHA DUGGAL
The plot, which revolves around the capture of a Ukrainian ship by an Indian crew, starts out as a standard thriller but soon devolves into a thorough analysis of the politics, populace, and peculiar industry of coastal terrorism in a distant and little-known land. And in an exclusive conversation for celeb chat this week, the lead actress for the same project, Amruta Khanvilkar, who is also well-known as the face of the Marathi film industry, shares with us how amazing in scope, ambitious in its broad emphasis, and almost flawless as a thriller her most recent series Lootere was!
The Wajale Ki Bara star told us exclusively during an interview when we asked her to guide us through the moment she made the decision to join the new series: “It was one of those rare auditions where I had to sit with my casting director and pestered him to no extent. To be completely honest with the readers, I snatched the audition call (she laughs). There were rumours circulating regarding this show’s plot, and I ended up getting cast as Lootere’s female lead.” It appears that she is a driven actress!
Amruta, goes on to reveal that her character was already severely constrained by the politics of a certain nation that they have depicted in the series. And after that, she’s choked in a marriage! “At times, the suffocation I had to portray on screen was a memory of instances in which I experienced suffocating in real life during the pandemic,” shares the actress.
Since she was a little child, Khanvilkar has dreamed of being a movie actor. In 2004, she participated in India’s Best Cinestars Ki Khoj. Mumbai Salsa marked her Hindi feature debut, and Golmaal marked her debut in Marathi cinema. Commercial success came next with Saade Maade Teen and Phoonk. 2010 saw her rise to fame thanks to the Lavani dance number Wajale Ki Bara from the Marathi movie Natarang! Furthermore, the list is infinite.
However, it was interesting to know— “South Africa is not a very safe place, and let me tell the media that while we were shooting there: I don’t know what occurred, but I was sitting idly in my vanity van with my door open, when my production manager hurried over to warn me against doing this since I could be abducted. I had never experienced an “oh my gosh moment” on a shoot before. I was afraid of this schedule.”
She continues with a terrifying account from the same schedule in South Africa, stating, “A murder had occurred in a nearby locality. It was a risky location where we were shooting! I observed folks carrying actual firearms. They would have launched a full-scale war against us if we had broken any of the laws of Somalia.” The supporting actress from Alia Bhatt’s film Raazi further mentions, “The car’s tyre had burst. It was completely dark! By God’s grace, the Somalia police found us after 30 minutes, even though we had no idea how anyone would locate us. Because the cars were made in Somalia and we were in complete disbelief, the cops were so kind as to even assist us in changing the tires. They even issued a warning to prevent kidnapping. In a lighter vein, we were truly experiencing the “lootere” feeling since, koi bhi hume kahin se bhi loot sakta tha. On occasion, the shooting schedule was postponed for nearly a week. On the sets of Lootere, there was nothing humorous. Holding the fort was our “jazbaa”! I sighed with relief when I received my return tickets.”
In the well-known Hindi films Malang, Satyameva Jayate, and Raazi, Khanvilkar had her meaty roles to play. She played the lead in the love drama Chandramukhi in 2022, which was well-received by critics and audiences alike! So, the reality TV personality adds, “On the sets, Hansal Mehta just brought humility. Presumably, he wouldn’t get worked up about it if there was no money to shoot! I’m not kidding when I say that seeing a director so relaxed on the sets of Lootere was my quirk. He extends the unit’s achievement beyond himself.”
She also believes that when it comes to movies, there should be no distinctions based on gender or language. She is a proud Marathi actor who hopes that as many people as possible would notice her work and that of other actors in her field. Sure, they may not have enough money, but Marathi cinema’s content has always been excellent and will remain so for her. So why not strive for globalisation? That is her entire concept! “Although Marathi film has consistently produced high-quality material, it only sometimes receives credit for it. This may be my opinion because I want to see my Marathi films receive positive reviews from critics as well as strong box office results. It will be a golden age, and this industry will finally receive the recognition it deserves when that begins to happen and the people start to take pleasure in Marathi movies and refer to them as their cinema,” the actress concluded her bytes.
The plot, which revolves around the capture of a Ukrainian ship by an Indian crew, starts out as a standard thriller but soon devolves into a thorough analysis of the politics, populace, and peculiar industry of coastal terrorism in a distant and little-known land. And in an exclusive conversation for celeb chat this week, the lead actress for the same project, Amruta Khanvilkar, who is also well-known as the face of the Marathi film industry, shares with us how amazing in scope, ambitious in its broad emphasis, and almost flawless as a thriller her most recent series Lootere was!
The Wajale Ki Bara star told us exclusively during an interview when we asked her to guide us through the moment she made the decision to join the new series: “It was one of those rare auditions where I had to sit with my casting director and pestered him to no extent. To be completely honest with the readers, I snatched the audition call (she laughs). There were rumours circulating regarding this show’s plot, and I ended up getting cast as Lootere’s female lead.” It appears that she is a driven actress!
Amruta, goes on to reveal that her character was already severely constrained by the politics of a certain nation that they have depicted in the series. And after that, she’s choked in a marriage! “At times, the suffocation I had to portray on screen was a memory of instances in which I experienced suffocating in real life during the pandemic,” shares the actress.
Since she was a little child, Khanvilkar has dreamed of being a movie actor. In 2004, she participated in India’s Best Cinestars Ki Khoj. Mumbai Salsa marked her Hindi feature debut, and Golmaal marked her debut in Marathi cinema. Commercial success came next with Saade Maade Teen and Phoonk. 2010 saw her rise to fame thanks to the Lavani dance number Wajale Ki Bara from the Marathi movie Natarang! Furthermore, the list is infinite.
However, it was interesting to know— “South Africa is not a very safe place, and let me tell the media that while we were shooting there: I don’t know what occurred, but I was sitting idly in my vanity van with my door open, when my production manager hurried over to warn me against doing this since I could be abducted. I had never experienced an “oh my gosh moment” on a shoot before. I was afraid of this schedule.”
She continues with a terrifying account from the same schedule in South Africa, stating, “A murder had occurred in a nearby locality. It was a risky location where we were shooting! I observed folks carrying actual firearms. They would have launched a full-scale war against us if we had broken any of the laws of Somalia.” The supporting actress from Alia Bhatt’s film Raazi further mentions, “The car’s tyre had burst. It was completely dark! By God’s grace, the Somalia police found us after 30 minutes, even though we had no idea how anyone would locate us. Because the cars were made in Somalia and we were in complete disbelief, the cops were so kind as to even assist us in changing the tires. They even issued a warning to prevent kidnapping. In a lighter vein, we were truly experiencing the “lootere” feeling since, koi bhi hume kahin se bhi loot sakta tha. On occasion, the shooting schedule was postponed for nearly a week. On the sets of Lootere, there was nothing humorous. Holding the fort was our “jazbaa”! I sighed with relief when I received my return tickets.”
In the well-known Hindi films Malang, Satyameva Jayate, and Raazi, Khanvilkar had her meaty roles to play. She played the lead in the love drama Chandramukhi in 2022, which was well-received by critics and audiences alike! So, the reality TV personality adds, “On the sets, Hansal Mehta just brought humility. Presumably, he wouldn’t get worked up about it if there was no money to shoot! I’m not kidding when I say that seeing a director so relaxed on the sets of Lootere was my quirk. He extends the unit’s achievement beyond himself.”
She also believes that when it comes to movies, there should be no distinctions based on gender or language. She is a proud Marathi actor who hopes that as many people as possible would notice her work and that of other actors in her field. Sure, they may not have enough money, but Marathi cinema’s content has always been excellent and will remain so for her. So why not strive for globalisation? That is her entire concept! “Although Marathi film has consistently produced high-quality material, it only sometimes receives credit for it. This may be my opinion because I want to see my Marathi films receive positive reviews from critics as well as strong box office results. It will be a golden age, and this industry will finally receive the recognition it deserves when that begins to happen and the people start to take pleasure in Marathi movies and refer to them as their cinema,” the actress concluded her bytes.
