higher stakes and a bolder inspector Bhatia

Her revolver fastened and punches in place, Prachi Desai is all geared up as she returns to the screen after two years. Interestingly, she has chosen to disrupt the quiet with Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout, the sequel to her 2021 film Silence… Can You Hear It?

As she reprises her role as Inspector Sanjana Bhatia, the actor reveals that the stakes in the new installment are higher with multiple murders posing complex problems for the team led by Manoj Bajpayee’s ACP Avinash. “Everyone was certainly more comfortable working with each other the second time; we picked up from where we left off. But, this project was much bigger and definitely tougher to shoot. The audience will also get to see the growth and confidence exuded by Sanjana in the new film,” says Desai, whose success story of transitioning from small to big screen was seen as a benchmark by many in the television industry.

The actor rose to fame at the age of 19 with the daily soap, Kasamh Se, opposite Ram Kapoor. Her popularity, over the two years that the show ran for, landed her a meaty part in Farhan Akhtar’s cult film, Rock On!! She followed it up with another blockbuster, Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai in 2010, for which she won the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Desai, however, was unable to cash in on her initial triumphs. Movies that followed, including Teri Meri Kahani and Azhar, did not do much for her career and she disappeared from the acting front for almost four years after Carbon: The Story of Tomorrow in 2017. Reflecting on how she coped with the slump, the actor says, “There were times when there was a gap of one or two years in between projects, but I did not let that get to me,” and adds, “I couldn’t do films just for the sake of doing them. I am grateful that I was in a position to make that choice.”