Lawyer, Singer, Dancer and Actor Nyrraa M. Banerji is spiritual too!
Nyrraa M. Banerji has been working in multiple languages across multiple mediums. Nyrraa has acted in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films and apart from that she is a huge star on small screen who also has done a few music videos. She has also been part of web series and her current show on television, ‘Pishachini’ is trending at No 1 on Voot. Nyrraa is multi talented as apart from acting she’s a good singer as well as a talented dancer. Her real name is ‘Madhuurima’ but she christened herself Nyrraa because there already was an actress with the first name Madhurima. Nyrraa M. Banerji did visit Cine Buster magazine’s office during our Diwali celebrations with celebrities and media. Our senior editor Mr keerti kadam happened to talk to Nyrraa M. Banerji on various subjects and here are some excerpts from it.
Nyrraa belongs to a Hindu Brahmin family and has studied Law. She has specialised in Intellectual Property Rights. She stays in Mumbai with her mother and a brother and is inclined towards spirituality. Right from her younger days she used to be involved in a lot of cultural activities like dancing, singing, painting. She also used to do fashion shows and in one of the outings she was approached by a ‘manager’ who offered her a movie role in a South Indian film saying, “You have a perfect face for a South Indian cinema.” ‘Those days were of individuals, managers, me and my mother decided to give it a shot only after a massive discussion between us. And I did my first film then’.
She added, “But I wanted to complete my studies so I graduated in Law. After the ‘Hera Pheri’ director Priyadarshan offered me a role in his film in Bollywood. ‘Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal’ was my first Hindi film which had Nana Patekar, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Asrani, Shreyas Talpade and Shakti Kapoor in it. My second film was ‘One Night Stand’ which featured Tanuj Virwani and Sunny Leone. Then I did an Indo-British film, a Sam Bhattacharjee directorial, ‘Barun Rai and the House on the Cliff’. Over the period of time I have done about a dozen films down south and quarter of a dozen in Bollywood. I get offers for web shows too and have already done 4-5 web series so far.”
In ‘Pishachini’ Nyrraa plays a lead role and viewers are showering love on her. It’s a very popular show and she feels overwhelmed by the fact that the audiences have loved and appreciated her and her craft a lot. Nyrraa is not averse to working in any medium provided that her role is strong. But her first love is films because that’s where she started her career. “But television looks after your financial needs. Working on TV may make life monotonous but at the end of the day your are earning everyday. That’s very important as it brings stability in life. To achieve that through films, you need to give back to back hits and your calendar should be full with shoot schedules. I believe that the stability for an actor comes from television and one can earn substantially. TV for a beginner is quite easy going which offers stability”, said Nyrraa M. Banerji.
Nyrraa prefers finite series on small screen because that lets her to work with different people. It also allows her to take up different projects with contrasting roles. She prefers working in web series as one gets to act more natural, more realistic, more rustic and importantly they are finite. When asked about the preference in playing a protagonist or an antagonist, she said, “Definitely Protagonist because I like playing inspiring roles. There’s one thing I noticed in television industry that I am approached for a negative role because people tell me that ‘your features are sharp, you are insanely glamorous, you are extremely beautiful’. I feel lucky that in my first show ‘Divya Drishti’ I played a positive lead and in ‘Excuse Me Madam’, my second show, too I played a positive character. In ‘Raksha Bandhan’ I played a grey shaded role and in ‘Pishachini’ too I am playing an antagonist. Initially I had refused ‘Pishachini’ because I did not want to get typecast in negative characters. But after realising that it was one-of-a-kind serial I agreed to do it, though after asking a lot many questions to the makers. I want to portray diversifying roles and I am lucky to get opportunities to play all kinds of characters.”
Nyrraa practices spirituality. She meditates which helps calm her nerves and clear her head. “When I have achieved the state of compassion and gratitude in every cell of my body then I don’t think I need to practise it regularly. When I feel agitated or weird and when I need to check on my emotions, I meditate. I always like other people to grow because everybody is similar to you. We all are a drop in the ocean,” said Nyrraa.
Nyrraa M. Banerji nurtures her friendships. Talking about her dear friend Nishant Malkani, she said, “It really was great collaborating with Nishant because he’s a very old friend. We had done a film about 7-8 years ago and recently we did a show together, ‘Raksha Bandhan – Rasal Apne Bhai Ki Dhal’. We were in touch all these years and we re-bonded on this show. We have a similar life path and life experiences. Also we are well connected. Nishant actually is my Best Friend.”.