From Gurinder Chadha’s ensemble cast to a lead role in Shaadisthan, Medha Shankar takes firm steps in showbiz (PICS)

Actress Medha Shankar who was last seen in a British television series 'Beecham House' directed by Gurinder Chadha is currently basking in the glory of praises for her debut feature film 'Shaadisthan' on Hotstar. The film starring Kirti Kulhari, Nivedita Bhattacharya and Medha Shankar as leads, revolves around Arshi (Medha Shankar) and her family who harbours a traditional mindset and wants to get her engaged against her wishes. Medha's performance has garnered great reviews for her emotionally intense yet restrained portrayal of Arshi in the film.

Medha who is seen playing the role of Arshi in the feature film spoke about her character and how she prepared for it, "Arshi is a regular 17-year-old Bombay girl with average dreams of going to college, making a name for herself, having fun with her friends and living a free life like any other 17-year-old. To prepare for my character, I created a personal, social and emotional life for her as a means to give a certain wholeness to her being and to understand her more deeply as a person. I strongly believe in and stand by the message the film sends out. I could instantly connect to Arshi's pain, angst and her whole emotional journey through this predicament, which started with fighting her parents, crying, pleading, running away and then finally surrendering to her fate. I would just genuinely feel her pain and despair, and glide into her emotional headspace."

Talking about her experience on working with her co- actors, Medha, said, "It has been an absolute pleasure working with this entire cast- including Kirti, Nivedita, Rajan, Ajay, Shenpenn, and Apurv. Everyone brought such authenticity to their characters. Most of my scenes were with Nivedita and we got along very well from the word go. We always had our inside jokes going and would always be chatting and giggling off camera, when Raj Sir, our director would look at us smiling saying "you know I can hear your jokes na". Kirti is a super chill and fun person to be around and there's so much to learn from her. I truly look up to both these incredibly strong actors and feel grateful that I got a chance to work with and observe such brilliant actors. Also, I was fan-girling big time when Kay Kay sir came on set and asked him a lot of questions about acting and improvisation. Most importantly it has been such a valuable learning experience working with our director Raj Sir”."

Medha's upcoming projects include a web series for Hotstar called 'Those Pricey Thakur Girls'.

Previously, Medha was seen in 'Beecham House' a British television series directed by Gurinder Chadha which is available on Netflix, and Sketches with The Viral Fever (TVF) & Netflix. She has also done some commercials including brands like Coca Cola, Paytm, Fashion at Big Bazaar, etc.