Exclusive: Neha Sargam on working with Vijay Varma in 'Mirzapur 3'; says ‘he was very supportive and understanding’

In an exclusive interview with ETimes, Neha Sargam, who played the role of Saloni discussed her experience filming intimate scenes with Vijay Varma in Mirzapur 3. She candidly spoke about overcoming her initial inhibitions and the challenges involved. Neha also shared her thoughts on being called the national crush and how it has impacted her career. Her honest reflections provide a deeper insight into her journey as an actress in the popular series.

It's been overwhelming.It's very it's very encouraging for an actor like me, who's trying to, make my place wherever that small ground that I want to stand on. So for me, it's very encouraging and this is what an actor needs to support the audience so that the makers consider you. There are two ways. Either the makers will consider you before or the audience will lead you to them. So I think the audience has done that for me. So I'm very grateful.

This is a phase which I'm enjoying. I mean, I know it's going to pass. Someone else will come. Someone else will become a national crush. But at least I've made it to the list. And I'm very happy about that. I've seen all of the pictures and memes. I keep laughing on them. Some are slightly okay. But all of them are filled with the love and affection that they have developed for this character. Which is remarkable because... I didn't know. I was ready to be trolled. I was ready to be maybe taken in a very... You know how Mirzapur fans are. They're very robust. And in that robust love, they get very descriptive, if I may say. So I was ready to face all that. But to my surprise... They are loving. I've seen a lot of affection and love in all the memes. So this was not expected.

For season two, when I signed, I was told that it's for... brief introduction characterization like I'll be briefly introduced in the show. But eventually, it's the Saloni season is season three. So that was told to me early on. And I was also aware that in season 2 I'm less but somehow audiences recognized Saloni for that sweet part. It was all mental preparation, to prepare myself mostly for the intimate scenes, because it was absolutely out of my comfort zone. I've never done such scenes. Not even thought of doing such scenes. So it was very challenging. Also, it was Mirzapur, so the stake was high. And it has a certain benchmark when it comes to such scenes. I had to give my best but I was only struggling to understand that how am I going to do it because this is not my forte. I don't do such things. I have no experience.

And then the best part was that I had support, full support of my family. My family was very supportive and encouraging me to do it properly. My mother ended up saying that ‘everyone is doing this kind of work nowadays. You're not the only one. And you're doing it with the best team. So do it properly.’ Then my director was so confident. Even though I kept on telling him that, I don't know how will I do it. I'm so scared. I'll get attacked.

My co-actor Vijay who was very supportive. He was very understanding, even though he's done so much work and he could have easily gotten irritated. But he was so understanding. He's also had his own journey and he was like, ‘I understand you're scared, even I'm scared’. Even though I knew that he was just saying it to boost my confidence, but that gave me a little bit of relief. First, we talked about the scenes, we discussed them. A few things were slightly uncomfortable but I requested my director who was, again, kind enough and understanding. But then whatever script demands and then that's how it was done and with a lot of support from the entire team, the director's team, the DOP team, the actor everybody. I think it was less of my hard work and more of the other people's support.

I think from the beginning, we were very friendly on set. We were chatting and talking about food and stuff. It was comfortable. But yeah, just for the intimate scenes, we shot another scene, which was slightly intimate, it was nothing compared to how the other intimate scenes were. But in the first scene, where she's very happy that he stayed back and she sleeps beside him. So that was just before we had to shoot the main intimate scene. So that broke the ice for me because, you know, that physically when you... touch and everything, you may be, unknowingly, you break the ice. You become comfortable with each other.