How films, books helped Shweta play an astronaut

Some films are special and for actor Shweta Tripathi, her upcoming sci-fi movie is one such project. The film had a successful premiere at a film festival in Mumbai and the actor is now looking forward to its theatrical release, more so because Shweta plays an astronaut in it and her journey to prep for this role has been quite interesting.

Talking about the project titled Cargo, Shweta tells us, “It is one of the most beautiful scripts I’ve ever read. It isn’t just a sci-fi, it’s a dark comedy and takes on spirituality, existential crisis and so much more.”

Shweta has teamed up with

Vikrant Massey for this Aarti Kadav directorial that was shot in mid-2019. Her prep included watching documentaries about space and astronauts, as well as reading books based on their lives.

Elaborating on that journey, she shares,“I started with reading up on abstract ideas which are all touch upon in the script. There’s this book called For Small Creatures Such as We by Sasha Sagan which explores the secular side of spirituality. There’s also the luminous book by Alice Gorman called Dr. Space Junk Vs. the Universe which talks about space flight, and what we can learn by thinking about space through the lens of archaeology,” she shares.

Shweta also that in order to get an understanding about spaceships, astronauts and the science behind it, she watched documentaries such as Fight for Space, Through the Wormhole and Journey to the Edge of the Universe.