Interview | 'He taught me not to take tough scenes home': Ahilya on Abhishek Bachchan’s lessons, set intimidation, and Telugu debut with Sing Geetham

Grateful to work with ace director Soojit Sircar and Abhishek Bachchan, and dreams of working in the cinema paced out by Kiran Rao. This is what young actress Ahilya has said in her exclusive chat with WION. At a young age, Ahilya got her first big break. She made a Bollywood debut as Abhishek's daughter in Shoojit Sircar's critically acclaimed I Want To Talk; the young actress has now stepped into Telugu cinema with Sing Geetham, directed by legendary filmmaker Singeetam Srinivasa Rao and produced by Nag Ashwin.

Beyond acting, Ahilya is also a content creator who lives for creative challenges. She’s drawn to roles that push her, the out-of-the-box kind. Whether it’s learning a new language, picking up a new skill, or even training in martial arts, she wants to keep growing. In this conversation with WION, Ahilya, with her sweet voice, opens up about working with cinema legends, adapting to a new language and film industry, and what's tough for her as a young actor.

WION: Did working with Abhishek Bachchan help you understand the realities of the industry better as a newcomer?

Ahilya: In some senses, I mean, I think he was always giving me such wonderful pieces of advice, whether it was a little note for a scene or why don't you try it like this or maybe you need to find this place inside of you so you're not taking. If you're doing a tough scene, you're not taking that tough scene back home with you afterwards. How to cut it off at the end of the scene. So these kinds of lessons were definitely there. But I never for a moment did I feel like he was ever trying to teach me anything per se. I feel like he allowed so much space for me to do my own thing and be an actor in my own way, and I'm always so in awe and grateful for that.

WION: Singeetam Srinivasa Rao is a legendary filmmaker whose work has inspired generations. What was the most valuable piece of advice or feedback he gave you during the making of Sing Geetham? Same goes for producer Nag Ashwin. What was the collaboration like?

Ahilya: I would say that I it wasn't anything particular that he told me as like a life lesson, but it wasn't the way he was. He was curious, he was excited and passionate and willing to tell a story that maybe not too many people were brave enough to tell, and he was willing to do this at 94 years old, so him being himself was the inspiration rather than any sort of advice he could have given me. He was also just an amazingly fun director to work with, always cracking jokes. He was, in the truest sense, the youngest person on set and for the producer. Nagashwin sir, I think he gave me some really great notes about how to act more naturally in a more grounded way, to stop performing and to just be the character, and those really helped on a day where you're feeling a little lost.

Also read: I Want To Talk review: Abhishek Bachchan delivers a stellar act in Shoojit Sircar's half-baked drama

WION: Many actors spend years waiting for opportunities with acclaimed filmmakers, but you've started your career working with Shoojit Sircar and now Singeetam Srinivasa Rao. How do you process that kind of beginning?

Ahilya: I mean, I'm always in awe still that these have been the filmmakers that I've gotten to work with, but as I've been saying, like I try to really remember the humanness behind each of these projects at the heart of it; it's people who love their work and their craft, and that's always inspiring. So I try to remember that. Besides the names, there is, like, the passion that is more exciting for me from both of these filmmakers, and I want to be inspired and keep doing projects that honour that passion. I think that I've seen this with these two incredible filmmakers.

WION: How challenging was it to step into a new film industry and adapt to a different language and working culture with Sing Geetham?

Ahilya: It was challenging to step into a new film industry and adapt to a different language. I think the language part was the most difficult part because when you're acting in your own language, you don't have to think too much about the words, so you can focus solely on performance. But here I had many different angles to focus on: the singing part, the accent part, the language part, and the words. So doing it all holistically became sometimes very challenging, and also your learning customs there are jokes that you don't understand that everybody else is laughing at, so you feel a bit excluded. But overall, it's such a wonderful experience to be able to see a culture closely and learn from new perspectives, so I always take that as the learning from that.

WION: What’s tough for you as a young actor on set?

Ahilya: Being a young actor on set is is tough because you're not sure where you're not sure how things work yet. So, I think that that's what it was, more than anything else, figuring out the ways a film set works, timings and who's who and who does what, so that was the first thing. I think as a young actor you can feel pretty intimidated when you're working with senior actors or people who've worked in the industry for years, but I think the important thing is to just focus on your work and not let anything else sort of distract you; be there for your job, and I think that that's what I try to do.

WION: If you could choose one filmmaker and one actor to collaborate with next, who would they be and why?

Ahilya: I think I would love to work with Kiran Rao. I would really, really love to work with Kiran Rao, and an actor I'd love to work with is either Jaydeep Alawat, who I think is an incredible actor or Konkona Sen Sharma. I would love to work with them; she's also a director, by the way, so I would also love to be directed by her.

Sing Geetham is streaming on Netflix, and I Want To Talk is available on Prime Video.