NRI Wives: Bhagyashree, Hiten Tejwani, Samir Soni and Aditi Govitrikar talk about relationships, love, and desires | Exclusive

NRI Wives- Grey Stories of Love vs Desires starring Samir Soni, Jugal Hansraj, Raima Sen, Hiten Tejwani, Bhagyashree, Kiku Sharda, Gaurav Gera, Sadiya Siddiqui, Gunjan Kuthiala, Samiksha Oswal, Javed Pathan, Aditi Govitrikar, Olivia Malhotra, Kapil Arora released in cinemas on May 26, 2023. The plot of the film revolves around four real -life inspired NRI stories diving into the grey shades of human relationships, emotions, desires, and curiosity.

Recently, the cast of NRI Wives talked exclusively with OTTplay and discussed how the film is based on real life stories of a lot of people they know, about their characters and much more. Excerpts:

When we talk about characters, Grey characters are something that attracts audience, what was your initial reaction when you read the script?

Samir Soni: The stories are grey. They are grey stories with normal human beings. There’s no hood or bad. You can find yourselves in situations where you might question yourself about your morality. And that’s the USP of the film, it’s not cliché. So the story is grey but the individuals are real human characters.

When you perform intimate scene on screens, how do you build up the chemistry or you have someone who comes and trains you?

Bhagyashree: I think the beauty of this particular film is that intimacy is through words, through emotions that the audience feel when they are watching two characters on screen and not the intimacy that’s shown on screen. Though the subject is extremely bold and something that you talk about in public, so without actually showing it on screen, you just feel that. 

Aditi Govitrikar: There's no explicit scene as such. All the scenes are shown very simply without any nudity. 

Samir Soni: As an actor, as a professional, any actor would like to focus on what the scene is trying to say. Whether it’s a love making scene or dramatic scene or whatever the scene it, the point is that what is the scene conveying to the audience. Otherwise it will become porn.

You all started your career way back in the industry, how has the industry being evolved since then?

Bhagyashree: There were no monitors earlier so we had to be dependant on directors to see if the shot was well. Nowadays, every artist go and watch it at the monitor and says that ‘mera baal theek nahi lag raha, maybe I could have performed better’. We did not have those things, we had to rely on the director and our own instincts if we can perform more better. That was one of the most important changes that have happened. 

Hiten Tejwani: First take is always the best is what I believe. It’s raw, comes in the moment. Second time makes it mechanical. 

Aditi Govitrikar: There are no second chances anymore. During those times, we could learn on the sets as well, now everyone needs to come prepared. You should know how to fight, dance, acting, horse riding and all that. When I started, the director used to teach you and I was fortunate to learn a lot of things.

The movie follows four distinct NRI couples as they deal with difficulties in their relationships, such as infidelity and intimacy issues, while living in the US. The movie is written and produced by Gunjan Kuthiala and stars Jugal Hansraj, Bhagyashree, Kiku Sharda, Hiten Tejwani, and Raima Sen. 

NRI Wives, which debuted on May 26, is expected to tackle a number of taboo marital themes with a dash of empathy.  

Watch the full interview here: