Exclusive! I am a mix of nervous and excited in being a part of Martin: Vaibhavi Shandilya

When OTTplay reached out to Vaibhavi Shandilya to confirm if she was indeed a part of Action Prince Dhruva Sarja’s next, Martin, the actress was on her way to the airport. “Yes, I have just finished shooting for the first schedule and am heading back home to Mumbai,” she said excitedly, adding, “I was in Bengaluru for a 10-day schedule, during which the team shot an extensive fight sequence. This was the only schedule here, as the rest of the film requires us to travel to different parts of the country and, pandemic allowing, outside as well. Our travel plans, of course, will depend on how the pandemic situation is at that point. Within India, though, we are expecting to travel to scenic areas with cold weather.”

For Vaibhavi, who came into Kannada cinema with the Sharan-starrer Raj Vishnu, Martin will be her first major commercial film. The film reunites Dhruva with director AP Arjun, who launched him in Addhuri, a few years ago, and is a highly-anticipated project. Martin is also a film that she is not allowed to divulge details about, barring the fact that she is a part of it. “It is my first big project, not just in Kannada; I would say I am ‘nervouscited, which is a new term I have coined for being nervous and excited at the same time. I have been having fun on the set. Also, considering the massive scale on which the film is being made, every shot is checked and re-checked to be sure of what is going to be on the big screen eventually. One major difference that I felt on this set, though, is that unlike other films, where you are shooting on a fixed schedule and need to get certain amount of work done every day, here the team is more focused on quality work than quantity. So, they don’t mind extending schedules by a few days to get the desired output,” she says.

The actress, who is also part of director Yogaraj Bhat’s Gaalipata 2, which she finished recently, had COVID-19, upon her return from Kazhakstan, where she shot with the team, including Ganesh, Diganth, Pawan Kumar, Sharmiela Mandre and Samyuktha Menon. “The Kazhakstan schedule was good fun, but a few days after I came back, I had COVID. I had started showing some mild symptoms and I got myself tested immediately, but it came back negative. On the doctor’s advice, I isolated myself, but then my father had the same symptoms I had, as did my mother. My parents and I tested positive at the start of the second wave, and that was horrible. My father and I required hospitalization at a time when beds were not available in hospitals across Mumbai. I managed a private hospital bed for my father, but I had to go to a government facility, as my lung capacity was severely diminished and my heart rate was also steadily dropping. Those were the worst 20 days of my life. It took me a few months to spring back, and I am glad all is well now, but I must say that COVID is no joke,” says Vaibhavi, whose first project upon getting better was a period web drama for MXPlayer called Chhatrasal, which came out in July.

“I was Devkunwari, a princess warrior, who was the first wife of Maharaja Chhatrasal, played by Jitin Gulati. It was interesting to be decked up like a princess and working with such an ensemble cast, including Neena Guptaji, Ashutosh Rana, Manish Wadhwa, etc. The show was widely appreciated in north India, specifically Madhya Pradesh and surrounding areas. Devkunwari was quite involved in all of Maharaja Chhatrasal’s political decisions, so, the role was quite meaty,” says Vaibhavi, adding that she is currently reading a couple of scripts for OTT projects, but that she hasn’t finalized any yet.