By Sanya Pandey

New Delhi, Jan 23 (UNI) Model-turned actress Nimrat Kaur, who plays the role of a female army officer in ALT Balaji's new web series 'The Test Case', says that it's a deja vu moment for her and an enriching experience to work in a female driven project like this.

Talking to UNI, Nimrat, who was in the national capital to promote her webseries, said," it's been a great experience for me. At this point of time of my career to get something which is so female-driven and there is such an incredible story to tell.

'It's a first of sorts. We have never seen a female protagonist play an army officer and we have never seen much of army world in any way in fiction. We haven't seen much also in the movies, little bit in films like 'Prahaar','Lakshya' or Television serial 'Fauji'. So we have not seen this world much and especially woman playing an army officer. So it has been an incredible experience for me. '

'I have a love affair for army, since I come from an army backgroud, it's a natural habitat for me, and a deja vu moment for me when I see actors in uniform, I recall that someone I know in forces,look like him. Like many times I go on the sets, I feel like that it looks like office of my father that I used to go. So it was really amazing and an enriching experience," she said.

Nimrat, who has worked in foreign television series like 'Wayward Pines' and 'Homeland', says that culturally we are very different from the West.

"I think fundamentally and culturally we are very different. West is very different from East. Their is a lot of dignity of labour abroad. Everybody is dealt with equality. They sit and eat together. I really appreciate the fact that they are very punctual about time. The deliverables are never faultered.

'I think that's something we can imbibe in our culture. And what they can learn from us is warmth, adjustments, and being able to make time for each other," she said.

Being a daughter of an Army Officer, when asked how was the reaction from within the family, the 'Airlift' fame actor said,"Excellent. It was overwhelming. And I would extend that to entire number of army officers, our friends, our extended friends, the entire army family that has come out with love and encouragement.

'They had their reservations of some ranks not being right but we had to maintain some sort of distance with complete true depiction because that's what required legally. But I was so overwhelmed with all the reactions and love we got for the first episode. And really hoping that we live up to the expectations of everyone.'

Talking about the preparations for the role, Nimrat said,"physically I have never been on a tougher journey in my life. I have never been unfit. I think I have been in my fittest best in last year playing this character. I had to prepare for three-four months for this character, and had to give up lot of things I love to eat.

'I had to come close to tell myself that I am a special forces aspirant.I had to change my lifestyle completely. During shooting, emotionally it was very stressful for me. There were days I was bruised, bloodied, that I never experienced in my life.'

On her experience on working with Juhi Chawla, the 'Lunchbox' fame actress said,"I was starstruck when I met her. She is so beautiful and all her songs just flashed past my eyes. I couldn't say anything to her. She is very sweet, soft spoken, humble and lovely. It was really nice to share screen space with her."

Asked how she feels about Akshay, who has worked with her in 'Airlift', doing socially relevant film like ‘Padman’ and ‘Toilet – Ek Prem Katha’, the actress said,"I think it's great that he is lending his star status to subjects that he will not be talked about, or be seen, that are taboo in our society. And I wish him

all the luck, and more power to him.I hope more actors do this."

The Test Case is a Hindi web series, directed by Vinay Waikul and Nagesh Kukunoor. It stars Nimrat Kaur, Atul Kulkarni, Rahul Dev, Manit Joura and Akshay Oberoi in lead roles along with Juhi Chawla in a guest appearance.

The web series is about the Nimrat's character Captain Shikha Sharma, preparing to be the first woman test case in a combat role, within the Indian Army.

Only the first episode of the series was available for streaming on the ALT Balaji App. The remaining nine episodes are set to be made available for viewing on January 26.

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