Exclusive Interview: Sudha Chandran Opens Up About Stepping Into The Shoes Of An Anchor For Crime Alert

Sudha Chandran is one of the most talented actresses in the entertainment industry. From theatre to television shows and films, Sudha has entertained her fans with varied roles in all the platforms. In an exclusive interview with FilmiBeat, the actress opened up about stepping into the shoes of an anchor for the very first time with Dangal TV’s new show Crime Alert. Here are the excerpts!

What made you say yes to hosting the second season of Crime Alert?

I always wanted to do certain things differently at different times of my life. This is one genre I had never explored and it came to me at the right time. I really wanted to take it on because it was more about discovering myself, my inner talent of what I could do and what I could not do. And then, when I was anchoring the show, I realized the impact of crime on a normal life. If it can impact me so much then think of the people who actually are directly affected by these crimes. What they must be undergoing at this point in time in their lives?

How has the experience been so far anchoring a show based on real life crime cases?

I have been enjoying a lot because it is not like a fiction show, where you are just characters who are mouthing lines. But when you are anchoring, you are the sutradhaar of taking on the story forward. So, it’s very important when you narrate something, people have to be convinced, it should sound very genuine, there should be anything farcical about it. The approach has to be very right. And we are not even dramatizing crime. We are just talking about it as it has happened. If you see Crime Alert, there is no dramatization of crime.

You have been a part of films and TV shows which are quite popular. How do you select scripts?

Basically, I look out for the production house, the criteria is always a good producer, a good channel and of course, a good role. These three when combined together is when your hard work really pays off, and of course the fourth aspect is the money. But then again, on TV, the character what you’re doing keeps changing over a period of time as there are twists and turns in these serials all the time. You just get a skeleton of your character but what happens further, how the track moves and characters evolve are not in our hands.

Do you have any plans of venturing into the OTT space and what kind of roles would you want to explore?

I would love to do a show on the OTT platform, but currently, the content probably doesn’t suit my image or probably I am not very comfortable doing that content on OTT. So, I would love to do something on the platform but I must be comfortable with the role. The content has to be more cleaner on OTT.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected actors and what kind of changes have come into place now?

I think everyone has suddenly realized the value of life and the value of money. The most important aspect is we have learnt to value our hard earned money and we have started valuing our health, which is of prime importance. When we are doing daily soaps, we used to ignore our health as we work day in and day out. We used to say 'baad main dekha jaayega pehle paisa bana lete hain.’ But COVID has taught us 'ki agar zindagi hai toh paisa bana sakte ho.’

What message would you want the audience to take home from Crime Alert?

What is special about this show is that we are having a very realistic approach towards crime. We are not glorifying it in Crime Alert. It’s a narrative based story and crime doesn’t always mean murder. We recently did this beautiful story where somebody comes into Bollywood nurturing a lot of dreams, but then what happens with that child is also a crime you know. He’s been led the wrong way and is duped of his money. So even thoughts can be criminal, your actions can be criminal. So, we are using our platform to enlighten people, to get a little more sensitive towards crime.