01 October,2026 04:32 PM IST | Mumbai | Shruti Sampat
Dhvani Bhanushali (Picture via Instagram)
Dhvani Bhanushali's debut film Kahan Shuru Kahan Khatam is finally making its OTT debut, giving the singer-actor a chance to revisit the project that marked her transition from music videos and playback singing to a full-fledged acting role. In an exclusive conversation with mid-day, Bhanushali opened up about her initial fears, her first day on set and learning to silence the pressure of audience expectations.
For Dhvani Bhanushali, the anxiety was not necessarily about changing genres but about whether audiences would accept her in a new avatar. "I feel like the fear was not stemming from the fact that I am shifting a genre or I am doing something else. It was more about, I don't know, there was just this fear that will people be accepting?" she said.
The actor recalled being more fearless as a child, saying, "Since I was a kid, I've just been the super into cutlet. I would raise my hand for everything." However, growing older brought a new set of insecurities. "As you grow older, you start to, those fears start to creep in," she said. After completing the film, she found herself wondering, "Oh, what if?" But eventually, she reminded herself that the work was already done.
Playing Meera also meant understanding the difference between being herself in music videos and portraying a fictional character. "Huge difference, honestly. It's because here you're playing a whole another person," she said. Bhanushali explained that while she is "a lot more out there" and likes to talk and express herself, Meera is "a lot more introvert" and "pretty much keeps everything inside".
She added, "When you play out a full character versus you do music videos, when you're just being yourself... there are no dialogues." Comparing the formats, she said, "It's playing out a story, but it's a three-minute song, it's a three-hour film." The experience was "pretty daunting", but also "a very enriching experience" because she had "so many beautiful actors around" and "so many things to learn".
Her first day on set was particularly nerve-racking. "My first day was pretty, I was really scared," she recalled. Bhanushali said she struggled to speak and remember being told she had to be audible. "I genuinely felt like there was this pit in my stomach and just words weren't coming out."
Director Laxman Utekar helped calm her nerves. "A lot of big actors cannot perform on their first day. This is your first film, relax, read," he told her. "That's when I felt like, okay... I need to relax, sort of like, just get on with what I have prepared."
Bhanushali also acknowledged the pressure that comes with being in the public eye. "Sometimes you forget the human aspect of it," she said, pointing out that artists "are allowed to fail" and "figure out where they want to go next". She added, "I do feel it sometimes. But I do quiet that noise. And I'm just like, it's absolutely okay."
