Neethu’s resilience is what drew me to ‘Bestseller’: Shruti Haasan

Chennai : Actress Shruti Haasan, who plays the lead in the web series ‘Bestseller’ that is to release on Prime Video on February 18, says that what appealed to her the most about Neethu, the character she plays in the series, was her resilience.

Shruti Haasan said, “I’m entering a new space like OTT and I wanted it to be in a female-led story. I have been getting offers for scripts that are led by a woman in films and OTT but this particular one, led by the woman, was really interesting to me because of the kind of woman she is. Her name is Neethu and her character has a resilience which all women have. However, her application of resilience was different. She was sparkling with resilience.”

‘Bestseller’, produced by Siddharth Malhotra’s Alchemy Production LLP and directed by Mukul Abhyankar, will be special for Shruti as this will be the first time she will be seen playing a lead role in a web series.

Is shooting for a web series any different from shooting for a film? Says Shruti, “When you go to shoot, you don’t feel it is different. But on a script level, on a character development level, it is definitely different simply because of how much time you have to tell the story. You have so much time that you can develop each and every character. I have been a huge fan of OTT platforms. I am a notorious binge watcher myself. So, I really love this format.”

The eight-episode web series will also feature Mithun Chakraborty, Arjan Bajwa, Gauahar Khan, Satyajeet Dubey and Sonalee Kulkarni.

Ask her what was the biggest challenge working on this series and she says, “For me, honestly it was working during Covid. We were shooting it in 2021 and for me, the challenge during the last two years has been forgetting Covid and also not forgetting Covid while we work. To forget it when you are ready for the shot and then to remember Covid and put your mask back on right after.”

She signs off, saying, “I know it sounds really silly but it is really uncomfortable for actors because of what the mask does to our face. I have had to have more touch ups than I have had touch ups in my whole career.”