FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Centered around the theme of love, this is the first post-pandemic big platform national release that features a Goan actor. Season 1 comprises six stories beginning with ‘Save the Da(y)te’ in which Meenacshi Martins plays the role of a mother (called Vidhya) of the runaway bride. It is a story about a woman who runs away from her own marriage as she is overwhelmed when someone calls her ‘Pranav ki biwi aur Chopras ki bahu’. Best friend Avni (Radhika Madan) ropes in wedding planner Jay (Amol Parashar) to look for her before the baraat arrives. In doing so, the believer-in-love Avni and cynical Jay debate love and relationship.
According to Meenachsi, she said it was a new-age love story where youth deal with their romantic feelings and emotions. She was the film was shot entirely in Goa for over 4 days in a 5 star hotel in south Goa. She said “I was involved in one shift. I started at 4 o’clock in the morning and ended at 3 o’clock in the morning the next day. It was a long 23-hour shift. I was done but it was tiring. The junior artists left at 12 o clock saying their shift had ended. It was a good experience for me.” She said she always advised Goan artists to be careful and be clear about the timings before shooting commenced to avoid any problems. Speaking about the film she said Goa was shown very well with scenes showing the churches, beaches and pathways prominently.
The audition was conducted online. She was called by a casting agency, who gave her the lines and details of what they expected. This was all Whatsapped to her. She then did a self-test meaning she set up a camera and spoke her lines in the desired manner. This clip was then emailed to the agency. A few days later she was informed of her election. Contracts were signed before she went in front of the camera and shooting commenced.
She will be flying to Mumbai in August to shoot for another serial. Asked if there was any advice she would be interested in giving young Goan artists interested in finding roles in these projects she said it was to be fluent in the language. She felt it was important to be fluent in English and Hindi and a European language to take advantage of the large number of French and European films being shot in the country. In addition, she felt it was very important to have very good diction and personality and importantly people to be friendly
From Nachoim-ia-Kumpasar where she played the mother of Dona Pereira (Palomi Ghosh) to Vidhya, the ageless Meenachi Martins continues to fly the flag of Goa in Goan and Indian cinema.
