Wanted to be a criminologist before I became actor: Samara Tijori

Mumbai: For Samara Tijori, playing a serial killer in the new series ‘Daldal’ wasn’t just another role - it was the fulfilment of a lifelong obsession with the criminal mind.

The actress, daughter of popular 1990s star Deepak Tijori, said long before the acting bug bit her, she harboured the ambition of becoming a criminologist. “I wanted to be a criminologist, before I wanted to act. I did a lot of reading about serial killers. I have read ‘Mindhunter’, ‘Sexual Homicide’ and a lot of these books. When I got this audition, I thought, ‘This is it. All your studying is finally going to come together here’. I was sold and I left that audition thinking I better get this,” Samara, who has been garnering praise for her standout performance in ‘Daldal’, told PTI in an interview.

In the show, which made its debut on ‘Prime Video’, Samara plays the role of Anita Acharya, a journalist who is later revealed to be a serial killer. The character is shaped by childhood trauma and abuse, which drives her, along with friend Sajid (Aditya Rawal), to target abusers. The series, based on author Vish Dhamija’s bestselling novel ‘Bhendi Bazaar’, features Bhumi Pednekar in the lead role of DCP Rita Ferreira.

The audition process for ‘Daldal’ was unconventional, said Samara, who made her acting debut with the 2021 Abhishek Bachchan-starrer film, ‘Bob Biswas’. “They asked me, ‘What is your name? What do you do’ and I had to answer those questions as Anita, which was mind-blowing. It just went on and on, they said at some point you have to get angry too,” she said.

After a month of waiting, the actress said that when she learnt that she landed the role, she became emotional.