Actress Roopa Shree says that she’s always ready to face challenges. The tougher the role, the easier it is for her to work on it.

“The more difficult the role, the more I like it. It’s a challenge for me to essay such intense characters. They give me immense satisfaction as an actor,” she says.

Roopa Shree plays a poignant role in her upcoming project ‘Cigarette’. The actor says that it is a very realistic character, which begins on a sober note and becomes intense towards the climax. She feels that her character is very realistic.

“It’s the story of how a simple girl turns insane because the man she loves falls prey to a certain disease. She takes to smoking to overcome the trauma but this takes a toll on her psychological well-being. I have worked with people suffering from psychological problems during while pursuing my master’s degree and I know the pain they undergo,” Roopa Shree explains. This experience helped her understand the character better.

 Roopa Shree confesses that the biggest test was to portray the extreme changes in the character. “The character that I play undergoes a lot of pain after she is diagnosed with cancer but all these feelings are bottled up and she never expresses her pain. This triggers negative effects in her. As an actor, it was a challenge for me to do this role and I’ve proved that I can,” she adds. Playing the character of a cancer patient is extremely tough, says Roopa Shree.

“The emotions are at an all-time high. There were times when I truly felt the pain and I totally forgot that I was acting. Now, I know what cancer patients go through when they know they are dying,” she adds.

Roopa Shree says that she consciously looks out for scripts that deal with real issues and people.

“I’ve seen a lot of suffering around me and also helped a lot of people solve their issues. I am an emotional person and break down at the smallest of things. Playing such a strong character helped me feel the depth of any emotion, be it joy or sorrow,” she signs off.