As Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s series ‘Faadu’ has completed one year of its release, its actors Pavail Gulati and Saiyami Kher went down memory lane and recalled as to why the series holds a special place in their hearts.
Reflecting on the journey, Saiyami shared: ” ‘Faadu’ holds a special place in my heart as it allowed me to delve into a character that resonates with my own experiences. Living life in a remote village, embracing nature, defining life on my own terms, expressing a love for poetry, and having the opportunity to narrate verses by many great poets, made this project truly special.”
Saiyami shared that being a part of Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s maiden directorial web series and the terrific writing of Soumya Joshi added extra layers of excitement.
“There were so many things about my character that I still look back and relate to. Right from her love for poetry which I deeply love and admire to her growing up in a place surrounded by nature, are things that I personally connected with because that is who I’m in my real life and that has been my background too.”
Saiyami said this is a project she learnt “a lot as an actor and made some real friends.”
Pavail shared that while the shoot was in full swing, they were met with a sudden onset of Omicron variant wave spreading, which led to a resilient team battling adversity.
“I remember we were shooting in December 2021… in the middle of Omicron spreading. Every day there were people falling sick, and the set was getting emptier. We couldn’t stop shooting cause we had location issues otherwise,” shared Pavail
Describing a particularly challenging day, Gulati recounted: “On one day, we had just about 15 people left on the crew… just Ashwiny ma’am, our cinematographer, me, and a few other people. We had one AD, 2 lightmen, and a few other people left. All of us were doing 3 jobs each minimum. I was doing costumes and giving clap while acting. Helping out my DOP and helping my director as well.”
Despite the adversities, Pavail highlighted the remarkable morale-boosting efforts of director Ashwini Iyer Tiwari.
“The best thing was that Ashwini Iyer Tiwari kept everyone’s morale so high that it didn’t feel like a crisis at all… I think we became more productive in that situation… it’s something I can never forget,” he added.
The series originally premiered on SonyLIV on December 9.
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