Evil lies in the mind games

Anushka Ranjan on how the toughest part of playing the antagonist in Mixture has been to manipulate the audience

There is something about grey characters that attracts most actors. Anushka Ranjan remembers gravitating towards her role of Sabrina when she heard the narration of Mixture, director Hanish Kalia’s thriller that also stars Aahana Kumra. “My character in Mixture is complex. I have never played a grey character before. She is dark and has her own backstory. Throughout the show, my character will exhibit all the negative elements, but there are twists and turns that will keep the audience [glued] to the story,” says the actor, last seen in Fittrat (2019).

Set in Mumbai, Mixture follows Ranjan and Kumra’s characters as they delve deeper into the world of crime. The thriller, which is currently being shot in the city, also sees Ranjan perform intense action sequences. Though she is new to action, the actor says the real challenge was to embrace the negative character. “The toughest scenes were the ones in which I had to [plant] a doubt in the audience’s mind. My character is outright evil; she will leave you with [conflicting] thoughts: ‘Is she a person in a tough situation and hence being bad? Or is she highly manipulative?’ I had to look convincing enough to pull off those bits. A lot of prep and research went into this role,” she says. The web series is set to stream later this year.

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