GOWRI MANICKAVASAGAM
Stylish, scintillating, and sophisticated former Miss Universe India runner-up and actor ApekshaPorwal is riding high on the success of her recently released original, Undekhi. Amidst all the other highpoints of the series, Apeksha’s transformation into a tribal woman for her character, Koyel, has left everyone in awe. A typical Bombay girl, it was a challenge for Apeksha to transform herself into a radically different person but an enriching experience to the core.
During the shoot of Undekhi in Manali, Apeksha recounts, “As a character, when Koyal is running in the jungle, she is doing all the action scenes barefoot. I had so many splinters in my leg in the first few days. The production tried to find a solution for me, and we tried to use masking tape on my foot. But then, on days when it was raining, the masking tape would come off because the soil was all wet.”
She candidly reveals, “Koyal is a character who’s life is probably the polar opposite of what mine has ever been. So I went to the very basics of her character, created her entire backstory, about her childhood, about incidents that have happened, about her life in the jungle, every single thing that has made her the person she is today. I also workshopped with Ashish sir where we broke the character down and did mock shoots of Koyal’s scenes as well. Koyal, on the other hand, has gone through so much of struggle since her younger days. She barely has any family to speak of, she has had no education and lives in a tribal area. She has no money and carries so much baggage with her. For me to be able to understand her and become her, it called for a lot of preparation.”
She further adds, “I did a lot of research in terms of the physicality, like how does she walk, how does she sit, eat and talk because a tribal girl is so different from a city girl like me who is born and brought up in Bombay.”
Coupled with a compelling narrative and a dramatic turn of events, the edgy thriller, Undekhi is winning multiple accolades from critics and audience alike. Undekhi is currently streaming on SonyLIV.
