look news india
Sana Thampi, a prominent face of the fashion and modeling world, has now entered the world of acting with the third season (Lust Stories 3) of OTT platform Netflix’s most talked about and popular franchise ‘Lust Stories’. Known for its boldness, complexities of human emotions and exploration of modern relationships, the third part of this anthology series features four of the country’s leading filmmakers—Kiran Rao, Vikramaditya Motwane, Shakun Batra and Vishal Bhardwaj—directing different stories. This prestigious project gave debutant actress Sana Thampi the opportunity to play the lead role in a segment of renowned director Kiran Rao, where she was seen opposite talented actor Gurfateh Pirzada.
During an exclusive media interview, Sana Thampi opened up about her acting debut, the challenges of playing sensitive characters in front of the camera for the first time and the guidance of Kiran Rao. He told how it could have been initially intimidating for a newcomer to work with such a big banner and veteran directors, but Kiran Rao’s sensitive direction and clear vision made his journey very smooth and memorable.
Sharing her personal experience of working with Kiran Rao, Sana Thampi said that Kiran not only directed like a director, but also coached her on a personal level like a true mentor to get into the character. Almost a full week of intensive acting workshops and scene reading sessions were conducted before going on set. Sana recalled that Kiran Rao herself used to sit with her for hours and spend one-on-one time, where she would rehearse the dialogues and explain in detail the subtle emotions hidden behind the scenes.
Sana said that this time spent with the director helped her immensely in understanding the mood of the character, her inner confusion and body language from Kiran’s perspective. He said that when a director connects with his actor so deeply, all the fear and hesitation within you goes away even before you go in front of the camera on the set. The result of this extensive preparation was that she was completely confident from the very first day of shooting.
In line with the theme of ‘Lust Stories 3’, the story included many highly sensitive and intimate scenes. When Sana was asked about the challenges and ease faced while shooting these scenes, she explained in detail that in modern filmmaking, the safety and comfort of the actors is now kept at the top. She revealed that when she joined the project, the production team had made it clear to her that a professional ‘intimacy coordinator’ would be present during the entire shoot, who would take care of every small and big movement and boundary.
Sana told that during the shooting she realized that an intimate scene is completely choreographed like an action scene. Nothing unexpected ever happens on the set that the actor is not aware of in advance. It was shot entirely on a ‘closed set’, where only essential crew members were allowed to stay. The entire team there ensured that as a female artiste, she could express herself openly, her physical and mental limitations were fully respected and only what she was comfortable with was captured on camera.
Sana Thampi also praised her co-star Gurfateh Pirzada. He told that not only did he do the workshop with the intimacy coordinator, but Gurfateh was also a part of every rehearsal and scene work. Both the actors sat together and understood the boundaries of the scenes and each other’s comfort level, due to which there was no discomfort or tension on the set. Gurfateh’s collaborative attitude and professional approach made these challenging scenes extremely stress-free and easy.
Talking about the selection of her future projects and roles at this new juncture of her career, Sana said that she is in no hurry at the moment. They want to closely observe and understand every opportunity that comes their way. Sana says that she wants to be in a position where she has the option of great scripts and can choose challenging and diverse characters of her choice. The positive response received from ‘Lust Stories 3’ has definitely opened new doors for the young actress in the world of cinema.