<p>Actor Janhvi Kapoor instantly agreed to feature in Zoya Akhtar's short in the horror anthology "Ghost Stories" for two reasons: to understand how the filmmaker creates her characters and because she finds herself drawn to "slightly tragic characters".</p>.<p>Zoya's short features the "Dhadak" star as a home nurse tasked with taking care of an elderly woman, played by veteran actor Surekha Sikri.</p>.<p>Janhvi says the project gave her the opportunity to understand the world Zoya creates, which is quite unlike others.</p>.<p>"The way Zoya sees her characters and writes them, they are grounded in reality. They are detailed and never one dimensional, she layers them in a way I don't think many filmmakers have cracked.</p>.<p>"I wanted to be a part of this world and get to know how these characters are made. It was just curiosity," Janhvi told PTI in an interview.</p>.<p>The actor says the story and the character resonated with her on a very "weird level".</p>.<p>"I think I am fascinated with slightly tragic characters," she adds.</p>.<p>Calling Zoya an incredible storyteller, the actor says the director, quite meticulously, handed over her a five-page backstory for the character before the film rolled.</p>.<p>"A lot of discovering who my character was, was also about her physicality - the fact that she was a nurse, there was a certain body language.</p>.<p>"The way she would dress while working and not working dictated a lot of her intentions. She had a specific way of talking."</p>.<p>The actor was shooting for "Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl" and "Dostana 2" when she landed on the sets of "Ghost Stories" and was told, last minute, she had to put up an accent for her character.</p>.<p>"Zoya asked if I speak Tamil or Telugu. I said I don't so she asked me to do an accent. I did one, because my DoP in 'Gunjan' is a south Indian. Zoya was like great, lets do it.</p>.<p>"Imagine she is a nurse -- an orphan, part of her backstory -- who has grown up around those Kannadiga sisters who bring up orphan kids. This happened on the spot! Luckily that day I had only one-two dialogues," Janhvi adds.</p>.<p>The actor then relied on her house help, a Kannadiga, to pick up the specific accent.</p>.<p>"The way she speaks Hindi was very specific to what Zoya said. All her 'h' are silent, so she says, 'teek hai', 'kaane may kya chahiye.' I made her say some of my dialogues, recorded it and then we just went with it!"</p>.<p>"Ghost Stories" would be her follow-up to her 2018 debut "Dhadak".</p>.<p>The 22-year-old actor says she has picked all her projects purely because they offered new opportunities for her to learn.</p>.<p>"The films I have picked after 'Dhadak' have been--what people have told me--slightly unexpected. Everything I have approached has been through the lens of 'is this an opportunity to learn?'</p>.<p>"If it has been, I have jumped at it. To work with Zoya, Surekha mam and Vijay, on this story, seemed like an opportunity of a lifetime for an artiste to grow from."</p>.<p>"Ghost Stories" will stream on Netflix from January 1. </p>
<p>Actor Janhvi Kapoor instantly agreed to feature in Zoya Akhtar's short in the horror anthology "Ghost Stories" for two reasons: to understand how the filmmaker creates her characters and because she finds herself drawn to "slightly tragic characters".</p>.<p>Zoya's short features the "Dhadak" star as a home nurse tasked with taking care of an elderly woman, played by veteran actor Surekha Sikri.</p>.<p>Janhvi says the project gave her the opportunity to understand the world Zoya creates, which is quite unlike others.</p>.<p>"The way Zoya sees her characters and writes them, they are grounded in reality. They are detailed and never one dimensional, she layers them in a way I don't think many filmmakers have cracked.</p>.<p>"I wanted to be a part of this world and get to know how these characters are made. It was just curiosity," Janhvi told PTI in an interview.</p>.<p>The actor says the story and the character resonated with her on a very "weird level".</p>.<p>"I think I am fascinated with slightly tragic characters," she adds.</p>.<p>Calling Zoya an incredible storyteller, the actor says the director, quite meticulously, handed over her a five-page backstory for the character before the film rolled.</p>.<p>"A lot of discovering who my character was, was also about her physicality - the fact that she was a nurse, there was a certain body language.</p>.<p>"The way she would dress while working and not working dictated a lot of her intentions. She had a specific way of talking."</p>.<p>The actor was shooting for "Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl" and "Dostana 2" when she landed on the sets of "Ghost Stories" and was told, last minute, she had to put up an accent for her character.</p>.<p>"Zoya asked if I speak Tamil or Telugu. I said I don't so she asked me to do an accent. I did one, because my DoP in 'Gunjan' is a south Indian. Zoya was like great, lets do it.</p>.<p>"Imagine she is a nurse -- an orphan, part of her backstory -- who has grown up around those Kannadiga sisters who bring up orphan kids. This happened on the spot! Luckily that day I had only one-two dialogues," Janhvi adds.</p>.<p>The actor then relied on her house help, a Kannadiga, to pick up the specific accent.</p>.<p>"The way she speaks Hindi was very specific to what Zoya said. All her 'h' are silent, so she says, 'teek hai', 'kaane may kya chahiye.' I made her say some of my dialogues, recorded it and then we just went with it!"</p>.<p>"Ghost Stories" would be her follow-up to her 2018 debut "Dhadak".</p>.<p>The 22-year-old actor says she has picked all her projects purely because they offered new opportunities for her to learn.</p>.<p>"The films I have picked after 'Dhadak' have been--what people have told me--slightly unexpected. Everything I have approached has been through the lens of 'is this an opportunity to learn?'</p>.<p>"If it has been, I have jumped at it. To work with Zoya, Surekha mam and Vijay, on this story, seemed like an opportunity of a lifetime for an artiste to grow from."</p>.<p>"Ghost Stories" will stream on Netflix from January 1. </p>