Barkha Singh on advice she got from Pankaj Tripathi while working with him in Criminal Justice 4: 'He said Isko ghar mat lekar jaana...' Exclusive

Barkha Singh exclusive interview

Barkha Singh, who is well-known for her colourful roles in web series and sketches, has made a daring artistic leap in Criminal Justice 4 by playing the complex and intense lawyer Shivani Mathur.

In an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol, Barkha spoke about eschewing romantic clichés, focussing on legal preparation, working with movie icons Madhuri Dixit and Pankaj Tripathi, and following her gut during a career that is constantly changing.

She reflects on her journey from original web content pioneer to serious dramatic contender, as well as her future plans.

Excerpts from the Interview:

Q: You have taken such a sharp turn with your character, Shivani Mathur in Criminal Justice 4 and it is something that we've never seen you like this. We've always seen even romantic roles. What excited you most about this story?

Barkha: I think exactly what you said because it was such a diversion from what I have had the chance to do. And in fact, as an actor, I feel that I enjoy doing serious and darker roles more. And finally, you know, the makers or the casting people saw me in that light. So for me, that was the biggest reason to like quickly go sign Criminal Justice and be very excited about it because it actually allowed me to do the kind of roles and the kind of shows that I actually really, really like.

Not saying I don't like doing the romance and the comedy, but I really love doing serious shows and serious roles. So I was very excited. And more importantly, I was very thankful to applause or, you know, even to it starts with the casting people, right? So Nandini Shrekant and Karan Mali were casting for this. I was very thankful to them.

Q: Was there any pressure or hesitation stepping into a legal drama alongside a powerhouse like Pankaj Tripathi?

Barkha: No hesitation, honestly. In fact, quite the opposite. When it was offered to me, I just went for it. I didn't ask any questions. I didn't ask questions about my fees as an actor. I didn't ask questions about the dates. I was like, my agency will handle all that. I want to do this. So, no hesitation, but yes, one thought was there in my mind. A lot of characters have been continuing from season one, season two, season three, and they have their own following and the audience of Criminal Justice have accepted those people as part of the show.

So my only question was, will I also be accepted as part of the show? A, because it's something very different that my own fans have not seen me. And then B, for the Criminal Justice fans, it's a new entrant into the show. Are they going to be accepting? So that was a thought at the back of my mind.

Q: What kind of prep went into playing a lawyer? Did you meet real-life lawyers or base Shivani on someone?

Barkha: Shivani is a fictional character. Work was throughout in progress till the last day of shoot. I was constantly trying different things. Yes, I did read on a bunch of legal terms, especially the ones that are mentioned in the script because I read the episodes multiple times.

So, the term which was being used in the show that I didn't know of, because even though it's the same, I don't know. But I know that there's a reaction to it. So I think it's a good reaction. The legal genre is also very important.

Also, one of my very close friend’s husband, is a very big lawyer. I used to always call him. I used to do things like that.

Q: How was it working with Pankaj Tripathi? How was your experience?

Barkha: He's a gem of a person. He's a lot of fun. I think first one, two days, obviously, it takes time to get used to it. But he was very friendly from day one. Maybe because he's also worked his way up to the top. Maybe when you're working with someone who's a lot more senior than you. So he was very sensitive towards that.

We were recreating the murder scene. So, I started doing the scene, but towards the end of the scene, I should have actually done it like this instead of doing it like this. So it was too late to go and tell Rohan, sir, please, first of all. You know, kaafi saare angles humne shoot karliye the, chaar actors involved the. Toh jab lighting vighting change ho rahi thi toh Pankaj sir ne aake bola ki 'kya hua' he was like 'tumhaare saath voh hua jo har actor ke saath hota hai?' I was like sir kya hota hai har actor ke saath, then he said 'ki tumne baad main laga ki aise krna chahiye tha?' maine bola exactly yeh hua hai. And he's like har actor ke saath hota hai, 2 cheezen yaad rakhna- 'ek cheez ki yeh ghar lekr mat jaana, jo hua hai set par voh set par hi chorr do aur doosri baat yeh tumhe pata hai ki tum yeh way main kar sakti thi, audience ko nahi pata hai, toh unke liye agar convincing nahi hota toh director okay nahi bolte.'

Q: You’re one of the OG web stars, starting out with web content way before OTT was the rage. How do you see your journey

Barkha: No fixed plans, no long-term plans, one long-term goal that I want to do well and I want to be known as a good actor, but you know, I've always been very fluid in my plans, like when I started, started first, I was doing television, but I wasn't able to relate to it, so I stopped. Certain times it's worked, certain times it's not worked, but in the larger picture, it's always worked like.

When I did Girls on Top that time, Instagram was not that big a deal or, doing brands on Instagram wasn't a big deal, but Viacom at that time had told me, the show is doing very well up my Instagram handle by now. So I got my Instagram, I made my Instagram handle then.

So I think I just followed my instinct because in my instinct, I felt like television is not for me. I want to try TVF, FilterCopy. So I just tried that and there also, I was like, when it was just starting, we all grew together.

So that worked out well for me. Then I was like, you know, I've done enough for FilterCopy TVF, my Netflix or Amazon Hotstar, and I started trying for those. And then that blew up. So that's what, you know, like it's worked for me to follow my instinct so far. So I think I'm just going to continue doing that instead of being very rigid, ki nahi muje sirf film main herione banna hai.

Q: What's next for you?

Barkha: There's another short film with a really good director, which is also going to come and set in the 1960s. So it was lots of fun with the whole get up and everything. So that's another thing I'm quite excited for. Reading a few scripts just now.

Q: So you worked with Vikrant Massey, Pankaj Tripathi. You also worked with Abhishek Banerjee, Madhuri Dixit. You got such a different personality. What's something that you've learned most from them?

Barkha: You know, different things from different people. I told you what I learned from Pankaj so that never carry the baggage from set to home.

Madhuri Ma’am se I observed her. And the one thing that I learned from her is to always carry yourself a certain way on set. Sometimes hum zyada friendly hokar we get too casual. But I saw her that even though when she was friendly, she was never too casual because she knows that all eyes are on you always. The moment you step out of your vanity, all eyes are on you. So you need to conduct yourself in a certain way. So that's something I learned from her. How you carry yourself, your posture, your nails, how you're talking, what you're doing when you're not talking. So just how you overall your discipline and decorum on set and how you conduct yourself is something I learned from her.

From Vikrant, I learned just simplicity in like as a person, but also simplicity in your scenes. Sometimes we overthink our scenes as an actor. But the way he performs is so honest and simple. So that is something I learned from him, you know, when I was doing the scenes with him, it really didn't look like it really felt like a conversation and that translated so beautifully on screen like, you know, his acting, his performance.

So I think that is something I learned from him to sometimes just feel it reach the state of flow. You don't have to use your mind when you're performing the scene.