Girls Hostel 3.0 Exclusive! Shreya Mehta: Nobody would want to meet me on sets because of how scary I am

Shreya Mehta is back to Girls Hostel 3.0 after a successful season of College Romance. The actress spoke to OTTplay about her preparation process for Ramya Mantri. Her process is such that people get scared, Shreya expresses. The actress also spoke about her future projects, including a new season of College Romance.

Excerpts from the interview…

College Romance 3 and now Girls Hostel 3. Do you think the audiences are ready to switch from Deepika to Ramya Mantri?

Yes. I also have College Romance fever till date. As an actor, I'm very excited because of back-to-back series. I'm sure people will forget Deepika for a while and focus on Ramya because she's getting a lot of things done this season.

Tell me, what should the viewers expect this time around?

People would be expecting what Ramya will do next. She wouldn't lose. I'll be shocking my audiences this time. There's a very different touch. You'll see a human side to Ramya. We'll get to know why she is the way she is. The audiences should understand that she's not just the antagonist and why is she like that. The layering is better and deeper.

Is Gurpreet coming back?

Who Gurpreet? Excuse me, I have moved on.

Were you shooting for College Romance 3 and Girls Hostel 3 back-to-back? Did you have to switch from Deepika to Ramya?

I completed College Romance shoot in March and mid-April. It was a 25-day schedule. I got done with that and two months later I started shooting for Girls Hostel, in June.

How did you prep for Ramya Mantri this time?

It was a 20-day schedule but I was shooting for nine days. It wasn't back-to-back. There was a gap of 10 days, two days and three days. The prep was only switching on and off from Ramya mode.

This is the only show where I don't interact with anybody on sets. I never played an antagonist before this. For that, I need to get into the vibe and zone of a villain. Thus, I cannot interact with anybody. For my nine-day schedule, I was just alone. I used to go on set, talk to my director and writer - to know what they want. Then I used to be all alone for 12 hours. The loneliness helped because all my emotions were bottled up.

Shreya enjoys talking. I feel like the bad vibes get out when you talk. Imagine all that you put inside you bottles up. When there was action, all the bottled up negativity would get out. That was exciting for me because I never prepped in that way. It was a good experience for me.

I know that Ramya is almost not you. So, what had made you say yes to the character the first time and why do you keep coming back to this role? What about Ramya do you love?

Back then, it was about beggers can't be choosers. Plus it was TVF. So there was no reason for me to refuse. I was very blessed. I auditioned for College Romance. That released in 2018. It was booming on YouTube. I got a call for Girls Hostel - that Girlyapa is doing a series of three episodes - it's a mini series in which I play Ramya Mantri. Thank God they approached me because I never thought I could play a villain too. It was very exciting for me in my journey. I explored what is she on sets only. Since it was written so well and the director Chaitanya was so amazing. We just went with the flow and people started hating me. It was amazing.

Deepika is also from the same family of arrogance and boldness but people don't hate Deepika. They hate Ramya which is so exciting for me. If you hate me more that means you're loving me. Keep the hate come (laughs). Now when I go back to Ramya, since it is four years, now when I get back to the same character, what I do to get into Ramya's shoes, is just I disappear, go silent and lock myself within me. That's when she appears.

Tell me about a moment when you broke character. I'm sure there would be a few.

Not really. That actually happened with College Romance because Deepika has to keep pokerface. There, I have laughed a lot but here there's no scope of that. I'm not involved on this sets and so it's not possible. With Girls Hostel, it's mad focus on the character. Nothing can make me laugh. I'm in my Ramya zone. If you meet me on sets, you wouldn't want to talk to me because of how scary I am.

Do you feel that you were offered Ramya because you have played Deepika? Did you talk to the makers and try to understand that?

I did ask them how I was finalized for the role of Ramya. I was in Delhi and had just shifted to Mumbai. I just got the call. It was mostly because I was the in-house talent and they were casting. They internally discussed and that happened. Maybe they saw how Deepika is bold and intimidating. They just came to me and I'm so glad they did.

The last time we spoke, you told me there's something huge happening on the dance front. What's the update on that? Are we expecting more videos?

Yes, so many more. I have decided to entertain my fans through my dancing projects. It's another cinema I'm trying to create. I'm trying to give the audiences something they haven't seen worldwide. It's very cinematic. It's not a dance video per say. There's one video on Suraj Hua Maddham coming up. The kind of hardwork I gave to that, I haven't done that in either College Romance or Girls Hostel. People will forget everything when they watch it because it's so beautifully shot. So yeah, more magical dance covers are coming up.

Where do we see you now?

College Romance 4 is happening. The Broken News 2 is also in the discussion stage. A guest appearance in Pitchers 2.