'WISH A FEMALE-LED FILM WAS CHAMPIONED MORE'

"It is definitely disheartening when (Ghoomer) doesn't reach a larger audience, especially when whoever's watched it has come out saying that "It is one of the best things we've seen in a decade" or that "It moved us, and we cried and laughed"

Saiyami Kher’s first on screen role in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Mirzya (2016) might have brought her praise, but it did not propel her career the way she would have hoped for.

The actress waited until Anurag Kashyap’s Choked (2020) put her back in the spotlight.

She is at the receiving end of high cheers for her portrayal of a handicapped cricketer in R Balki’s Ghoomer.

A huge cricket fan, Saiyami says she had to wait for seven years to land a meaty role like this one.

“A lot of times you get work not on the basis of the kind of actor you are, but the commercial viability that you bring to a project,”

How did Ghoomer happen?

I have known Balki sir for some time. He once saw me playing cricket, and that’s where the idea came from.

It was almost four or five years ago, but the film didn’t end up happening anytime soon.

He’s obsessed about cricket as well.

He said if he makes something on cricket, he will want to make it as authentic as possible. He would make it with me otherwise he wouldn’t make it at all. That’s what he said.

One of the most interesting things about this character is the name Anina. Where did you get this name?

It was a part of Balki sir’s quirky ideas.

There’s a dialogue in the film, ‘Left se bhi Anina, right se bhi Anina.’

I didn’t really ask him about why the character is named a certain way. It was just something which he wanted.

Did you have any apprehensions about playing a role that doesn’t suit the conventional heroine trope?

Not at all. I think pretty much all the work I’ve done has been quite unconventional.