Nazriya takes on a cool avatar

Nazriya Nazim is back on-screen in a role that is far removed from her previous vivacious girl-next-door characters. In Trance, she plays Esther Lopez, a hip young woman living life to the full. She shares the screen with real-life husband Fahadh Faasil once again — they were last seen in the much-acclaimed Bangalore Days (2014).

Your role in Trance is clearly a new experiment. What’s the feedback like?

Great feedback! It’s a role the audience has not seen me in — someone different from my earlier characters.

Tell me about Esther.

She is someone who has been broken at a very young age and is still trying to get out of her mess. That is something that bonds her with the pastor — Fahadh’s character. That’s their common ground, they both have been broken somewhere and are trying to get out of it. Esther is still trying to fight.

Did you rely completely on the director for this transformation? Or was there some homework done on the side too?

While playing all my characters I rely completely on my director. For Trance, it was Anwar ikka [brother] — someone I know well personally and I love his films.

I might have prepared on the habits of this character — this character smokes, she is an alcoholic, too. I didn’t want to look on-screen like someone who did not know how to smoke. Those are the things I worked on. Otherwise, we go on set and it’s from there.

Working with Fahadh again must have been wonderful. Do you discuss work once back home from the sets?

Working with Fahadh this time also, was a lot of fun. During Bangalore Days, we were trying to figure out each other. Now we have been married for the last five years. For Trance, we were like two actors on the sets and we discussed the scenes. I am particular about not talking about scenes at home. But there are days when we ask, ‘Was the scene okay today?’ But not more than that. Work is discussed on sets with the director. Fahadh never gives me tips but whenever I ask him for tips, he has helped me in a big way. It has helped me.

Besides cinema, what other activities do you spend time together on?

We love travelling, making small trips together and watching movies together. Actually we do everything together now.