Bhumi explained, “I think we had like two workshops. We had an intimacy coordinator. We went through like all the processes. But I think what was quite wonderful about doing this with Ishaan is that he’s such a brilliant actor. And what’s good chemistry? I think good chemistry is just like two people that really know their job and are completely honest and earnest in that moment coming together. And that’s when magic happens. And I think we felt it like many, many times.”
Bhumi shared that there were scenes where they had to bring in the chemistry without any verbal communication. She said, “Because there were so many times we didn’t even speak about things. You know, we were with our director. We had a thought. And fortunately for both of us, our thoughts were very aligned most times. Like there was no… I didn’t ever feel a conflict where our work was concerned. It was always very smooth sailing.”
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The actress also stated that she was “extremely comfortable” during the steamy scenes in the show. “I was extremely comfortable going through those scenes. Because for me, that was romance. That was their romance. And I’ve never experienced this before with any other co-actor of mine where my silences were more powerful than what I was saying. And I think like he kind of, we kind of respected that. And we built on that. That’s why there are a lot of moments of just, there’s a lot of ‘therav’ (stay), there are silences between these two characters. And you see the other four episodes where like the romance kind of like pumps out.”
Ishaan chimed in, stating that the “intimacy goes far beyond just the physical intimacy in the show.” He added, “For which also it’s very important to break the ice. Bhoomi and I had not spent any time one on one before the show. Luckily we got to do that. We got to workshop when we started. We spent a lot of time getting physically comfortable with each other. We got to know each other, have a laugh and find our chemistry and banter. And then we found Aviraaj and Sophia together. We had all that time on set and knew it was a safe space.”
Ishaan also spoke about the importance of making sure that the actors in the show are taken care of. “As the male actor or the leading man of a show, I think to me my first priority or agenda is that I want to make sure that my co-actor is feeling safe and comfortable. And can vocalize or verbalize their feelings,” he added.
Speaking about physical intimacy, Ishaan said, “Especially when you’re doing a physical intimacy. Like for me, I don’t think there’s any space for randomly doing whatever you feel. It’s like an action choreography. You don’t want to improvise anything because you might end up hurting someone. So I think luckily we had people on set of course that made it a safe space and made it a conversation. But because she’s such a intuitive actress and has experience, I think she comes with a general comfort level. We had a comfort level between us. Again, intimacy goes far beyond the physical intimacy. Like she mentioned the silences. I think some of my favorite moments with Bhumi were those. There’s a scene later in the series that I love. Something just happened that day that changed our entire chemistry in the show. Because so much was said without saying anything.”
Agreeing to Ishaan, Bhumi said that fans should look forward to the eighth episode.
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