There's a certain calmness about Sanjay Leela Bhansali: Nayan Shukla

MUMBAI: Budding actress Nayan Shukla got to work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali recently. She says there is a certain calmness about the filmmaker that allows you to be who you are.

Without revealing the name of the film, Nayan said she got "lucky with this one".

"Shruti Mahajan who is undoubtedly one of the finest casting directors of our times and who works closely with Sanjay ji spotted me at the gym and called me to audition for this part and I eventually got cast for it," Nayan said 

Talking about Bhansali, she said: "There's a certain calmness about Sanjay ji that allows you to be who you are. I'm grateful to him for instilling that confidence in me through our interaction."

While her big screen debut is yet to happen, she featured in the digital project "Masaba Masaba".

"My launch was to come from a Sanjay Leela Bhansali production that we shot in London a while ago and I was quite thrilled about it. But I received an unexpected call from Panchami Ghavri casting company, unexpected because like any newcomer I had dropped my pictures at her office about five years ago," said Nayan.

"She reached out to discuss this particular character last year and I was unsure as she mentioned that this character might have intimate scenes with Masaba (designer), but it turns out that the script eventually changed and she convinced me after all. Yes, the character that I portrayed in the web series was supposed to have intimate scenes with Masaba initially. Now, I am only glad that I took up the role, and that it turned out well and I received so much love from the audience all over the world," she added.

She got the opportunity to work with critically acclaimed actors like Neena Gupta and Suchitra Pillai in her debut project.

"Apart from the years of experience that they hold along their unparalleled performances, as actors both Neena ma'am and Suchitra ma'am have an exceptional ability to put another actor at ease which is a rare quality to have! It has been an absolute privilege to have worked with such talented actors, everyone on the show ('Masaba Masaba') is incredibly talented," said Nayan, who has also hosted events and TV shows.