Mahie Gill loves the thriller genre

Mona

Mahie Gill may call Mumbai home for now, but this Chandigarh girl would forever be in love with City Beautiful — its geri route, kulche chole and saag with makki ki roti! As much as she is looking forward to a trip to the city, she is also waiting for the release of Durgamati — her first ever horror thriller. The actress, earlier seen in Dev D, Paan Singh Tomar and Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster, is enjoying every bit of her journey.

New beginning

I am always trying to do something different. A horror thriller is something that I had never tried before, but Durgamati gave me that option. I absolutely loved playing a CBI officer. The co-actors were all so wonderful.

Spooky story

While consciously one couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary on the grand sets of Durgamati, one sure could feel some strange energy. I do not give much thought to presence of ghosts, but I did experience something spooky back in school. I was in St Kabir’s boarding school and late one night in the hostel, we friends decided to summon spirits by chanting ‘heart liver kidneys’ and commanding it to open the door. And the door actually opened, which was quite scary.

The favourite

I love thrillers; it’s my go to genre on OTT now. I have enjoyed horror films during school days. I remember The Exorcist used to give me chills and has remained my favourite movie since then.

Lockdown time

The lockdown gave me much-needed time with my daughter. Work kept me so engrossed that I couldn’t spend enough time with her. Before the lockdown I didn’t know I had a ‘baking bone’ in my body, but over the period I loved cooking. While this was a welcome break from the hectic schedules, I was eager to get back.

Films versus theatre

As much as I loved my time at the Theatre department in Panjab University, films and stage are two different crafts. The expressions and dialogues are exaggerated in a play, while for screen they are subtle. I would owe it to theatre for teaching me discipline, punctuality and how to respect your team. While working in a play you do everything, right from sweeping the stage to other chores, but it made me value people more.

Motivating force

Honours and awards push me to give my best. Receiving the Best performance award at the Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin for my film Posham Pa sure lifted my spirits and made me resolve to work harder.

(Durgamati releases on Amazon Prime on December 11)

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