MUMBAI: Actress Gulki Joshi says working with critically acclaimed actor Ashutosh Rana in the teleplay "Purush", was very scary in the beginning.

Ashutosh plays the role of the tyrannical and misogynistic politician Gulab Singh in the play.

"Working with Ashutoshji was very scary in the beginning and eventually extremely comfortable. I genuinely learnt a lot from him and best thing was absolutely no ego hassles," the actress said.

Gulki, on the other hand, has returned to theatre with "Purush" after a hiatus of two years and admits to having found the role of Ambika Bhagawat, a resilient social activist, extremely demanding and challenging.

"In my past experiences with theatre, I used to be completely immersed in the scene. I was apprehensive about coming across either aggressive or someone too timid, and achieving that balance was crucial," said Gulki.

In a pivotal scene, Ambika is raped by Gulab Singh. Gulki recalled the the emotional state lasted till much later after the director yelled cut.

"At one point I broke down because I got into character and didn't know where to stop. I could not get out of the scene even after the final shot was okayed," Gulki said.

The Zee Theatre teleplay is now available on ZEE5.