Kirti Kulhari says she is always in search for roles that can help her leave the comfort zone that her past performance has become.
The actor, who followed her breakthrough role in "Shaitaan" with critically-lauded turns in "Pink", "Uri" and most recently, "Mission Mangal", is playing a Balochi woman in Netflix's "Bard of Blood", which she says gave her the opportunity to push herself more.
"Very few people are capable of seeing what you can still do. People always look back at what you have done and think, 'oh yes, she has done this so she can do something similar again.' I am not looking for something that I can comfortably do," she told PTI in an interview.
"I am looking to get out of my comfort zone, in the sense that every time I have played a character and played it well, I feel 'I have done this.' So that's my new comfort zone. I need something to wake me up from that comfort and go like 'show me if you can do this,'" Kirti added.
Digital platforms, she believes, has come as a boon for actors who are looking to prove their talent.
"It is becoming easier, it is a great time for actors who are looking for good work and proving themselves. For me, it is a problem in a way, because once you have done something good, the next one has to go notches higher. The kind of work which gave me satisfaction six months ago, today, I will feel I want to do more challenging work."
Based on Bilal Siddiqi's bestselling book of the same name, the espionage-thriller also features Emraan Hashmi, Viineet Kumar Singh and Shobita Dhulipala.
The series is directed by Ribhu Das Gupta and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment. "Bard of Blood" starts streaming from September 27.
Kirti says her character is not in the book and was created for the show.
"It is a different world which I hadn't explored or known too much about before. Not just Balochistan, I had to first understand the world of espionage, how does all of this work- the stakes involved, among other things.
"It was very interesting for me to go into Balochistan's history, where they come from and how they are still fighting for freedom," she added.
"Bard of Blood" chronicles the story of an excommunicated RAW agent Kabir Anand, a courageous analyst and a sleeper agent, who takes on a covert mission in Balochistan when four Indian spies are captured; the mission soon turns south and Kabir must face demons from the past.
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