Ankur Rathee Recalls 'Nerve-Wracking' Kissing Scene With Adah Sharma On Day 1: There's 50 People On Set... - Exclusive

Ankur Rathee, known for his charming presence on screen, recently shared his candid thoughts on filming an intimate kissing scene with co-star Adah Sharma for the Disney+ Hotstar series Reeta Sanyal. The actor, in an exclusive chat with Zoom, reflected on the challenges of shooting such a scene, especially when it’s your first day on set and you barely know your co-star.Ankur admitted, "Of course there's awkwardness. You know, when you're kissing someone you've just met and there are 50 people on the set that are watching you, and then there are another 30 people in the other room watching you on a big monitor, it's nerve-wracking. It's not as intimate as people think it is." Filming such scenes comes with its own set of pressures, especially with the crew looking on. Ankur further elaborated, "On top of that, you know, your mind is racing. There's a part of my mind that's thinking, 'Gosh, I hope she knows that I'm being respectful and that I'm being conscious of her personal space and that this is purely coming from a very professional space.'"ALSO READ - Ankur shared that these internal thoughts often cloud the moment, but for the audience to truly believe the chemistry between characters, the actors have to dive in headfirst. "I've learned over the years that if the kiss is awkward for me and Adah, then it's going to be awkward for the audience when they're watching it. Not only will they not believe it, they'll cringe watching it."For Ankur, the key to making the scene work was to put all personal concerns aside and focus solely on the characters. "Really the only way around that is to jump in with both feet and put all your nerves, all your questions and all your concerns aside and really trust the process, trust your acting ability, and then trust your partner's ability to receive and respond."

Ankur Rathee on his experience with Adah SharmaFortunately, his experience working with Adah was smooth, thanks to her professionalism. "Adah being experienced as well, we both have been in these situations more than enough times. We know really the only way to make it feel real and organic is to put our ego aside, stop thinking about how we feel as people, but rather to really invest ourselves in what our character is feeling."Ankur also emphasised how diving deep into their characters' motivations helped ease the tension. "Our creative, collaborative conversation had already begun earlier that day about what these characters mean to each other, what does this scene mean to the larger story, and how it changes and evolves their relationship."Despite the initial nerves, Ankur believes they managed to pull off the scene successfully, adding, "I think we ended up pulling it off somehow, even though we didn't have much personal rapport to go off of."