It has been seen time and again that two contrasting characters when paired create magic on screen. Actors Ankur Rathee and Shriyam Bhagnani have been able to capture audience attention and earn a lot of positive feedback through their characters Arvind and Tanya Mehta in Nagesh Kukunoor’s City of Dreams Season 2, which released on 30th July on a OTT platform.
Ankur’s character in the series is that of a spoiled brat who doesn’t know how to behave, but when he meets Shriyam, his life totally changes as he falls in love with Tanya’s feisty, innocent, comfortable-in her-skin character.
Ankur is an Indian-American actor and dancer best known for his roles in the Amazon Prime series Four More Shots Please, Zoya Akhtar’s Made in Heaven, the Hindi films Thappad, The Tashkent Files, Taish, and Undekhi, and as a finalist on Dance India Dance (2009).
He graduated from Princeton University where he trained under artistes like Tony Award-winner John Rando, Tony-nominee Leigh Silverman, and Academy Award-nominee Christina Lazaridi. He also briefly studied filmmaking at USC School of Cinematic Arts. After moving to New York City, he continued his training with Alice Spivak in the Stanislavsky Technique and began doing off-Broadway theatre.
Not many people know Shriyam used to play tennis at the state level. It was during college while performing in a play that she fell in love with acting. Shriyam is known for movies like Baaghi 2 and Batti Gul Meter Chalu. She trained at Barry John Acting Studio, earning a diploma, and thereafter took up jobs in the film industry related to production, editing and assisting directors to get a holistic understanding of the craft and technical details. Despite being associated with a family that is well entrenched in Bollywood (she is the niece of producer Vasu Bhagnani), Shriyam has had a modest, self-made journey thus far, achieving gradual progress over the last few years.
Talking about receiving such appreciation for her role as Tanya, Shriyam says, “When I read about the character of Tanya, I knew people would like her. But when people actually saw it and appreciated it, it was surprising in a good way. I am not from Mumbai, but from Kolkata, and for the last four-and-a half-years I have been giving a lot of auditions. But when I got a call for the role of Tanya, I knew I would do it.”
Talking about the process, she says, “For the role I was asked to gain weight, but the effort was worth it. Tanya was different from me, and so I used to ask many questions about the character to the direction team, but it was a fun ride.”
For Ankur it was gratifying to receive such love. “This is the first time I have played such a character — one the audience would like to slap at first but ends up empathising with. Overall, it was a fun journey right from the audition till the last day of the shooting,” he says, adding, “To prepare for Arvind, I had to look deep inside to bring out the character’s negative nuances.”
It is everyone’s dream to work with Nagesh Kukunoor, and for these newcomers it was a dream come true too. “Working with Nagesh Sir was great. He is an actor’s director. He knows the actors inside out and is so focussed and inspiring,” shares Shriyam. According to Ankur, “He knows so much and is intellectually curious, he wants to learn everything. It was a pleasure to work with such a director.”
Both actors are full of praise for each other. “Ankur is a great co-star and fun to be with on the set,” says Shriyam. And Ankur feels Shriyam has an innocent look which helps him to transport into the scene and evoke the required vulnerability.
Ankur and Shriyam are optimistic about the future. “Acting is a craft and I am absorbing like a sponge from everyone around me. I have done just a few roles till now and I hope to do more with many shades and layers,” shares Shriyam. “I love the way Bollywood is believing in me and giving me chances to perform,” says Ankur. “Till now I have done meaningful roles where there is a message, but now I want to do a full-on masala movie with dancing and entertainment,” says the young actor, who has a few releases coming up soon both on OTT and in the theatres.
