‘Circus artistes are daredevils’

Shweta Tripathi, who was seen in critically acclaimed films such as Masaan and Haraamkhor, is all set to make her Tamil film debut in national award-winning writer Raju Murugan’s romance drama Mehandi Circus. 

Shweta, who essays the titular character of Mehandi, plays a circus performer in the film. Talking about her training, Shweta says, “It was a great learning to train with real circus artistes. I knew from books and shows that the lives of circus artistes are not easy, but spending time and learning from them made me realise the amount of effort they put in and how they constantly jostle between life and death. They don’t have good quality harnesses or any of the safety equipment that international artistes do but their sheer grit to excel is inspirational.” 

Shweta adds, “I trained and also shot with a real circus troupe from Chinnamanur and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, named Raja Circus, for the film. I practised the nuances like walking and bowing down. I also learnt to throw the knife although I don’t have to do it in the film but sometimes I think that it’s very important to know and understand every aspect of the act.”