Anjali Patil holds forth on her journey from NSD to Telugu cinema and reacts to the recognition she received as Fanny from ‘Finding Fanny’

In four years, Anjali Patil has featured in a handful of films — the independent film Delhi in a Day by Prashant Nair, Sri Lankan film With You, Without You and Prakash Jha’s Chakravyuh among them. But these days, she gets more recognition as Fanny from Finding Fanny. “I had two scenes in the film,” she says with a smile, masking the slight hint of exasperation. “It was Homi Adajania’s film and had recognised actors. I am lucky to have acted with Om Puri in Chakravyuh and Naseer in Finding Fanny. Naseer saab taught us at National School of Drama. Now I am waiting to act with Pankaj Kapur,” she says. The dusky actress was in town to promote Naa Bangaaru Talli, the Telugu/Malayalam bilingual that earned her a special mention at National Awards early this year.

“I don’t speak both these languages so when I was approached, I wondered how I’d do it,” she says. “I am a spontaneous actor who likes to play with words and draw from the energies of my co-stars. But if you don’t know the language, it could be a black hole,” she says.

Director Rajesh Touchriver convinced her that she would be able to portray the emotions of a 16-year-old and language wasn’t an issue. She landed on the sets and realised, “it was nightmarish. We were shooting each scene in Telugu and Malayalam. I’d refer to the two books in which I had written each line in Devanagiri and English,” she says. Anjali discovered that the stresses were on different syllables for Telugu and Malayalam. Help came in from Ahmed Ali, a youngster from Rajahmundry and Justin, who helped her with the Malayalam lines. At the end of filming, Anjali was ready to dub in both languages. “But at the same time, I was busy shooting for Chakravyuh,” she says.

She signed Naa Bangaaru Talli before Chakravyuh but the film is up for release only now. “Once I finish a project, I move on to my other commitments. I don’t call up the director or producer to keep tabs on the release. I understand that each film has a different journey,” she says, recalling how With You Without You had to pulled off theatres in Chennai after protests by fringe groups. “Then 900 people turned up at a private screening at a hall that could accommodate only 400. I consider my work in WYWY the best,” she says

Does the acceptance of each film’s journey stem from a sense of security? “We actors are full of insecurities and worry about how we look, talk, photograph…” she laughs.

Born in Nasik, she graduated in Pune. Her parents wanted her to be a doctor and her father didn’t talk to her for a year when she said she didn’t want to pursue medicine. “I was a brat, a rebel. I liked to dance, wanted to travel and what better way to do it than with theatre. I bagged a gold medal in graduation and my dad calmed down and let me do what I wanted. I enrolled in National School of Drama and studied direction,” she says.

Lined up next are Mirziya with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Prakash Jha’s next and Nagraj Manjule’s (of Fandry fame) next Marathi film. She is open to acting in Telugu as well. “Telugu films may be more commercial but the passion is unmatchable. I’ve heard a lot about the discipline of the crew here,” she signs off.