Shreya Dhanwanthary will soon be seen in medical thriller Mumbai Diaries 26/11

Sheetal

The pandemic has made us appreciate the work frontline workers do on a regular basis, but it’s not the first time that we have come face-to-face with death. Another such crisis that shook India was 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai, on which is based the medical thriller on Amazon Prime Video — Mumbai Diaries 26/11. The series is directed by Nikhil Gonsalves and Nikkhil Advani. The latter is also the creator of historical drama The Empire on Hotstar, which is getting rave reviews.

Actress Shreya Dhanwanthary, who played renowned journalist Sucheta Dalal in Scam 1992, will be seen in Mumbai Diaries 26/11 along with Konkona Sen Sharma, Mohit Raina, Natasha Bharadwaj, Mrunmayee Deshpande and others. About playing a reporter in the series, she says, “It is very different from what I have played in Scam 1992. While there I had to portray a character, an award-winning journalist, who is still seen and followed by many for her skills, here I would be playing Mansi Hirani, who is a mix of a lot of reporters that we have known. The best part about my role is that I am connected to every character in some or the other way.”

Great script

Also seen in The Family Man series as Zoya, she jokes how she hasn’t signed a contract with Amazon Prime Video yet, which it might seem to some for she has done another series with them! So, what led her to sign this series? She says, “The story is so fast-paced and intriguing that it made me curious when I read the script. I badly wanted to audition for this and, gladly, I got the role. It was very clever to put a reporter in it, as it touches every person in the script. Without giving much of the story away, the interesting thing about my role is that it was the only character which was in the same frame as every other character.”

“Re-staging the entire incident was a different ball-game altogether. I was completely blown away when I saw the sets. It was hard to believe the fact that people had gone through this horrific incident,” she adds.

On September 9, when the show premieres, Shreya will be unavailable as she would be binge-watching the series the same day!

Up next

Shreya will next be seen with Taapsee Pannu in the film Looop Lapeta. She will also be filming for R. Balki’s next project. Ask about her preferred genre and she says, “I like all genres. I have done a few real roles back-to-back. So, I want to do something different than what has already been seen by the audience. I want to tick all the boxes.”

Shreya, who is also the author of the book, Fade To White, says writing and acting are the two things that take up her time. During the pandemic, she also directed a web series titled The Viral Wedding. “During the lockdown’s so-called free time, I had this idea of making a series and there some actors who were kind enough to say yes.”