Exclusive: Shriya Pilgaonkar Talks About Playing A Lawyer In ‘Guilty Minds’, Shares She Went To High Court For Research
There’s a legal term ‘Mens Rea’ which refers to a person’s mind and intent when committing a crime. It talks about having an intent to commit a crime or in simple words, having a guilty mind. And that’s exactly what Shriya Pilgaonkar and Varun Mitra’s upcoming legal drama is titled. Created and directed by Shefali Bhushan and co-directed by Jayant Digambar Samalkar, Guilty Minds is a 10 episodic series that follows the life of two lawyers, Kashaf Quaze (played by Shriya Pilgaonkar) and Deepak Rana (played by Varun Mitra). While one is the epitome of virtue, the other works at a leading law firm dealing with shades of grey. Namrata Sheth, Sugandha Garg, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Satish Kaushik, Benjamin Gilani, Virendra Sharma, Diksha Juneja, Pranay Pachauri, Deepak Kalra and Chitrangada Satrupa in pivotal roles along with Karishma Tanna, Shakti Kapoor, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, Girish Kulkarni and Saanand Verma will be making guest appearances in the series. Guilty Minds is all set to air on the OTT platform Amazon Prime Video from April 22.
Since I love legal dramas considering my background in the law, I thought why not find out a little more about this upcoming series. That, my lovelies, is why I sat down for a candid chat with actress Shriya Pilgaonkar who is all set to win our hearts as she turns lawyer for this courtroom drama. Without further ado, let’s dive in and find out what she had to say about her upcoming series.
1. How Did Guilty Minds Happen For You?
Shriya Pilgaonkar: Gautam Kishanchandi sir, one of our leading casting directors called me to test for Kashaf Quaze’s part. And I believe there were lots of auditions for all characters. So all of us went through a couple of rounds of auditions and I had three scenes and all three scenes had insane emotional range. And you know, sometimes actors can tell reading scenes, what the script is going to be like because of how good those scenes are. So I auditioned for it. And the first time I read the name, Kashaf Quaze, I was instantly drawn to this name and I felt like I knew Kashaf. So, when I found out that I was accepted and they were offering me this part, I was elated. It was so exciting for me to be working with Amazon again and Shefali (Bhushan) who comes from a family of lawyers herself, I knew that I was in safe hands. Legal dramas and courtroom dramas that I personally also enjoy watching. So I was super thrilled to be playing Kashaf.
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2. How Did You Prepare To Play A Lawyer? What Was The Process Like?
Shriya Pilgaonkar: I spoke to a lot of my lawyer friends because see, the thing is, it was important for me to understand how they function as people first. Where do their opinions lie sometimes in the matters that they take or when they’re arguing. What is their personal take or is there any personal take at all? What is their approach to their profession? And in terms of actually going to court, I went to the High Court a couple of times. And one time when I went, it was sort of a more peaceful case and the other one was where I was seeing these flamboyant lawyers.
So, it gave me a sense of the fact that lawyers are also performers and that they bring their own personalities to the table. And that as Kashaf Quaze I can create her the way I want to, from scratch. Of course, the fear was to not ever go overboard or to make it, to fill me because I think the representation we’ve seen so far has been cliche. So, because Shefali (Bhushan) comes from this experience and this family, wherein she has a lot of lawyers around her, I knew that she would make sure it’s authentic and guide us accordingly. So, yeah, she was my sort of go-to person through this.
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3. What’s Your Take On Kashaf’s Ideologies And What She Feels About Law And Justice?
Shriya Pilgaonkar: See, I don’t judge any character that I play. I feel like in general, Actors should just focus on finding actually, why should I say actors? I’ll speak about what I do. For me, it’s important to be truthful to the character and not judge the character. And Kashaf is somebody who has very strong ideals and morals and who sees the world as right and wrong and black and white. She mainly works in public litigation. So, she takes up cases that she truly believes in and perhaps, so people who do not have as much of a voice, but it’s important for her to cases, uh, to take up cases that she actually believes. That she cares about. So she is really driven by emotion in that sense. And her friend, Deepak Rana, played by Varun Mitra, comes from a different ideology. Sometimes there is that friction, but I think relationships where there is friction make for interesting and beautiful, exciting relationships. They have an equation. Kashaf was very complex for me to play and it took me a while to get into the rhythm because I did feel the pressure of making sure that I’m portraying her in the best possible way. And that is when my director told me that don’t be cerebral about it. Just trust that you are here and flow with it. And that’s exactly what I did. I found her.
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4. So Kashaf and Deepak seem to have a very interesting relationship. So, where is that relationship going?
Shriya Pilgaonkar: You’re going to have to watch the show for it, but let me just tell you that, sometimes we have equations in our life that we can’t label. You can’t define them in one word. And Kashaf and Deepak, care about each other immensely, but Kashaf is a very private person. She does not allow people into her life very easily which can be annoying for others in her life. Also, because they come from very different ideologies that also come in the way but for people who have these equations, that sort of move from personal to professional space, it will be interesting for them to watch the show, especially, and to see it from that lens. But there’s a lot of care and fondness, it’s very interesting when you watch the show to see how this equation evolves and what happens to it.
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Also Read: ‘Guilty Minds’ Trailer: Shriya Pilgaonkar, Varun Mitra Turns Lawyers With Clashing Ideologies In This Courtroom Drama
5. What Challenges Did You Face While Playing A Character As Intense And Emotionally Overwhelming As Kashaf?
Shriya Pilgaonkar: See Kashaf is very different from who I am as a person. So a lot of the emotions that Kashaf is feeling, I really had to dig deep to tap on those feelings. But I found myself transitioning into Kashaf very smoothly because I felt like I knew her. I don’t know why, but I just felt like I knew her and Shefali (Bhushan) knows Kashaf better than anybody else. She was the one who could really guide me, but often there were certain episodes wherein I found it very difficult to operate at that level of intensity that Kashaf was feeling. But I just had to not think about it. I just had to completely surrender myself and eventually, that is what I did. And of course, in court, a lot of the scenes Varun and I have actually done in long takes. So learning the legal terms and the acts was a bit of a challenge. I’ve done a lot of theatres and once I got that out of the way, I feel like I could completely enjoy myself and I wasn’t stressing about lines and things like that.
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6. The OTT Culture Has Given A Bigger Platform And Reach To Talented Actors And You’re One Of Them. What Do You Have To Say About That?
Shriya Pilgaonkar: I have only good things to say about it. Well, it has been game-changing because we are actors, technicians, and producers and at a basic level it’s just created a whole lot more employment. But at the same time, because the focus has been on quality, everybody has just upped their game, which is important. The kind of stories that are being told, the kind of chances that are being taken and the way the casting is being done. I think people are wanting to be more authentic and decisions are not being made on any other factor, other than somebody who might fit the part, you know, correctly in most cases, not in all cases. Especially for women, the parts that are being written or that are out there are there is so much more scope now than there was, or like Jalsa for example, when you see Shefali (Shah) ma’am and Vidya (Balan) ma’am, I think it’s beautiful to see that they get to do all of these things. Initially, I think that women didn’t have as many opportunities to play different roles or show different shades and now they do, which is fantastic.
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7. A Takeaway That You Expect The Audience To Have From The Show
Shriya Pilgaonkar: Oh, there’s so much. The fun part is that in the show, every episode has one case that has a huge range. There’s a futuristic case about driverless cars, then there’s one case about dating apps. There’s one about the music industry. There’s one set in Bollywood. There’s one about a social issue about water? So the range of cases is going to be really fun to watch. And the show also raises certain philosophical questions that I think as a viewer when you’re watching you yourself will end up discussing or debating with the person you’re watching. Or even to yourself, because that’s exactly what happened. Varun and I would often ask each other ‘what do you think?’, ‘how do you think that decision should have been?’ or ‘as a lawyer, as Shriya how would you put forth your argument?’. Because it’s not that black and white in most cases. It’s very, very well-written and there’s also a larger arch in the show. Another case that is there throughout the show is very interesting and that’s where all the drama lies. Plus the personal tracks, every character has really fascinating personal tracks and I love mine. I think I got to explore myself so much in the show. I really got to sink my teeth into it. Especially with how Kashaf really evolves as a person. In court she’s really one thing but she’s not dealt or she’s not confronted a lot of emotions in her life and we see how she ends up doing that. So, that, for me, was a very emotional, overwhelming journey. I never got an opportunity to dance before on screen and this time I got to do a bit of salsa, which was a lot of fun.
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Here’s to wishing Shriya all the very best for her upcoming release. I just can’t wait to watch this legal drama, what about you?
