Actress and singer Amika Shail was born and brought up in Kolkata, and has essayed characters in Laxmii, Mirzapur 2, Gandii Baat 6, Disney+Hotstar’s Chattis Aur Maina, and many more. The Kolkata Mail correspondent Priyanka Dutta caught up with the singer-actress in an exclusive chat. Excerpts…

How was the experience of working for OTT after 3 years?

Amika Shail- OTT has revolutionized our content-watching experience. With the rise of OTT platforms, the kind of content that web series are providing to the audience is quite diverse. The kind of roles that I have played in the web series to date is also varied.

I will say that there’s a lot of difference between acting for a web series and acting for a daily show. As an actor, you get a bigger platform to experiment with your acting skills in Web series. Also Therefore I believe that as an actor I like performing for web series more than performing in daily soap which is very mundane.

Although I started my acting career with television I have spent more time on OTT as an actor. My first movie Laxmi was also an OTT release. There’s like an old bond with OTT now. I find it more interesting to work for OTT than any other platform.

Tell us about your experience of working in a Malayalam movie.

Amika Shail- I had an absolutely amazing experience working in Malayalam movies. I have performed dance numbers for both movies. I have been lucky enough to share the stage with some of the superstars of Malayalam film industry. Nobody has the cast of Lena, Rahul Madhav, Suresh Krishna, Irshad Ali, Kailash, Santhosh Keezhattur, Manoj Govind, Vian, and Ameer Niyas and in Bandra, I performed with Superstar Dileep. It also stars Tamanna Bhatia and Dino Morea.

There could not have been a better debut in the South industry than this. I have previously worked with a crew from the South during the shoot of Laxmi. I always appreciate their discipline and devotion to their work.

What are the OTT projects that you are a part of?
Amika Shail- I have been fortunate enough to be a part of numerous OTT projects. A lot of them are slated for the 2023 release. I will talk about them when the time is right.

How was the experience of working with Dileep?

Amika Shail- I cannot be more thankful for getting the opportunity to work with Dileep. He is a gem of a person.

When I heard the backdrop of the song and the cast of the movie, I immediately said yes to the song. I listened to the song, after saying yes. The film is made on a big canvas and has people from various film industries for an amalgamation of sorts. I am excited and the film is expected to hit theatres in 2023.

I am very excited to work on such a project with such an ensemble cast. I am extremely grateful to Producer Ajith Vinayaka for considering me for this project. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the audience’s reaction to the song.

Is this your first dance number?
Amika Shail- No this is not my first dance number. My first dance number was also for a Malayalam film titled Nobody.
Lena, Rahul Madhav, Suresh Krishna, Irshad Ali, Kailash, Santhosh Keezhattur, Manoj Govind, Vian, and Ameer Niyas were part of the film.
I am excited about their release in 2023.

Can you tell us about your future projects?
Amika Shail- I believe in going with the flow. I have never had a checklist for myself. Things just happened to me one after the other and I am happy and contended the way life has unfolded itself for me.

So I do not believe in a lot of planning. I just take the projects as and when they come to me and if I am comfortable doing that particular kind of show.

If we talk about my upcoming projects I have a few web series lined up for release. I will talk about them when the time is right. My immediate release includes 3 movies – Dog directed by Shailendra Singh, Mussoriie Boyz by Hriday V Shetty, and the third movie by Hiren Adhikari ( Title yet to be decided) . Other than this there are 2 music videos and also 2 Malayalam movies- Nobody and Bandra where I have performed dance numbers.

2023 is going to be an exciting year for me.

We wish Amika all the best in her future work!!