MUMBAI: Actor Sana Amin Sheikh and writer-director Shivankar Arora go a long way back. The two have worked together in the show Pratigya, where Shivankar was the DOP. Sana has made her short film debut with Shivankar Arora’s One Night Stand, which is being screened on his as well as his sister Shipra Arora’s YouTube channel Content Ka Keeda. Talking about working with the two of them, Sana says, “Working with Shivankar was an awesome experience, he is a chilled-out guy. He is young and very talented. I worked with him when he was a DOP in Pratigya and he was assisting in direction and photography. Those days, we both were just starting off our careers and now, to see him as an independent director is a great feeling. When I was working with him as an actor in his short film, I felt very proud to see him direct. He is very easy-going and makes the actors very comfortable. Shipra is one hell of a talented girl with curls, she is wacky, she thinks out-of-the box. Although she writes for daily soaps, now that she is created Content Ka Keeda along with Shivankar shows that she is not limited to daily soaps and is open to experimenting. Their channel’s name is so funky, it says it all,” says Sana, who has been part of Singhan, Table no 21, Bamfaad.
Talking about how she came on board with One Night Stand, she says, “When Shipra narrated the story to me, I found it very crisp. I liked the story so I just said, ‘Let’s go ahead and shoot it.’ It has a very catchy title and a lot of people are asking me if it is actually about just a One Night Stand, but all I can say is that it is a story which gets completed in one night.”
Ask her about the response that she has been getting for the film, and she says, “When the poster released on Instagram, a lot of people asked me have I gone bold for it? No, I have not gone bold for it, neither is it a bold story. It could have been a bold story but there is something else to it for which you have to watch out the short film. The response has been really nice and people are the showing interest and appreciating it.”
Talking about working on the OTT platform, she says, “Short films are awesome because don’t get to see short films on a regular basis on television or on any other platform as such, unless it is a web film or web series. But short films are crisp and easily accessible on YouTube. I think it is amazing that OTT is giving lot of actors opportunities, good shows, good scripts where they can perform and makers can juice out their talent. I think OTT is giving a platform to the actors where they can show their craft in a more expansive manner. Whereas when good actors get roles in films, they get limited scenes, that’s about it. But for OTT, I am so glad that the characters are being noticed, even if you make a small appearance, you get noticed and it helps you get more work in the future. So, I think it is a great platform,” she says.
Projects on OTT platforms are often assumed to have bold content. This is because it gives you an option to watch privately, says the actor. “People accept bold content on OTT. I completely agree because on OTT, you don’t have to watch a web series or web film with the entire family. You can even watch it on your mobile phones. It’s a private experience so you don’t even have to get uncomfortable,” she says.
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