Anjali on playing a cop in Nishabdham and her upcoming role in Telugu remake of Pink, Vakeel Saab

Tamil and Telugu actress Anjali is known for her command over the two languages and her ability to get into the skin of characters. She’s played several author-backed roles like Manimegalai from Engeyum Eppothum, Anandhi from Kattrathu Tamizh, and Ponni in Karthik Subbaraj’s Iraivi. All these characters are rooted in the girl-next-door image, however in her recent multi-starrer Nishabdham/Silence, Anjali played a stylish cop, Maha. “I was surprised when Hemant approached me to play Maha, a stylish intelligent cop as you mentioned. Compared to my previous characters, this one is quite different so I immediately grabbed the opportunity. To be honest, I was looking for a change because sporting the same kind of looks, again and again, would make me a stereotypical actress. But when it comes to acting, I have always done my homework to justify the characters given, my job is to portray my roles with perfection,” says Anjali. When they started Nishabdham/Silence, the makers had planned for a big theatrical release. But Anjali thinks that the direct digital premiere has had its advantages. “I don’t think that the theater-going audience and OTT audience are two different sets of people. In my experience, I would first watch films in theatres and for the repeated watch, I prefer OTT platforms so the bottom line is, we all are movie fans so it doesn’t matter in which platform we are watching the content. However, OTT gives us the freedom to watch movies at our convenience. Also, OTT is a cost-effective platform because, with an annual subscription, we can watch several films and shows. I think the theater-going audiences are limited because of the language barrier and availability factor. With the help of English subtitles and dubbed release in Malayalam, Silence/Nishabdham has reached more homes in India and across the globe,” she says. Anjali further added, “I feel lucky to have work with all of the actors in the film, especially Michael Madsen. When we were shooting for Nishabdham, he just completed his portions in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood so he shared his experience from the film. Also, it was a delight watching him perform. I was lucky to have more combination scenes with Michael Madsen, never thought that I would share screen space with him. The way we (Indian actors) approach our characters is completely different from Michael’s working style. It was a great learning experience.” After Silence, Anjali will be a part of the Netflix anthology directed by Vignesh ShivN, and she also has Pawan Kalyan’s Vakeel Saab coming up, the Telugu remake of Pink. “We are still shooting for the film so I can’t reveal much about my character. However, I can assure you that the impact created by Pink will be created by the Telugu version. I’m super happy to work with Pawan Kalyan and it’s nice of him to choose this script which is relevant for our society,” she reveals.