Andrea Tariang, who plays herself in the movie, is a remarkable singer and musician dabbling in contemporary RnB and soul music. She plays with a band called Lavender Groove and often teams up with well-known keyboardist Karan Joseph for gigs. “Bengaluru has a fantastic music scene. I’ve performed here with Karan before. The standard of gigs here is very high,” the Shillong-based artiste appreciates.
On moving from music to acting, she says she never expected to be in a Bollywood film.
“When my dad called me and asked if I wanted to act, we both started laughing. He said to give the auditions a try anyway. After the auditions, they called and said I got selected. But, I took it lightly and it only struck me the day I met Amitabh Bachchan. I was a total wreak. But overall, it was a great experience.” The challenging part was speaking in Hindi, says the actor who learnt Hindi on the go during the shooting. “Saying it out loud required a lot of rehearsing. It was natural maybe because I was myself and this film is so realistic I didn’t really need to act. I just needed to feel and react.”
Recalling her first shot with Amitabh Bachchan. Andrea says she was visibly shaking. “I had three words to say. I was so scared. That nervousness actually worked for the shot and we finished it in one take. I gained confidence after that.”
She goes on to say that she’s taken away many things from the film. “Before this, I never really paid attention to the events around me. Now, I relate well to people around me. It made me realise that I should never take my freedom for granted.”
