Irrfan is unpredictable in a good way: Anuja Sathe Gokhale

Actor Anuja Sathe Gokhale is enjoying the praise and feedback she is receiving for her role of Prabha Ghatpandey in Abhinay Deo’s directorial, Blackmail. This is Anuja’s second project with the Deo household — she had played a cricketer in the Hindi TV show Tamanna, which was produced by Abhinay’s parents, Ramesh and Seema Deo. Speaking about working with Abhinay, the actor says, “I had brief meeting with Abhinay while shooting for Tamanna a few years ago. He shot a promo for the serial, and that was it. I had this notion that he was strict and if I did anything wrong, he might scold me. However, my ten-day shoot with him on the sets of Blackmail was completely different. He is very soft with his actors and is a very patient director.”

The actor recalls her first day on the sets and admits to being nervous and anxious. “I still think it was Abhinay’s conspiracy to give me the toughest scene opposite Irrfan on day one. I wasn’t scared, but I was definitely nervous, because I respect Irrfan and I had to look down upon him and make him feel miserable. However, It went really well, because Irrfan unknowingly teaches you so much in a scene. He is unpredictable in a good way, and that teaches you to be alert and challenges you as an actor,” says Anuja, who made her Bollywood debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani (2015), where she played Ranveer Singh’s sister.

Anuja will next be seen in Shreyash Jadhav’s Marathi film, Me Pan Sachin, where she plays a cricketer once more. “I started my career with Marathi films and television, and I will never stop working in it. Also, it is my mother tongue and I will always have a soft spot for it.”