A week into the release of Mandala Murders, Shriya Pilgaonkar has already got her favourite compliment. “Someone said to me, ‘We didn’t think you could scare us.’ I love that. I think people felt that way because I have usually played morally righteous parts,” smiles the actor, pleased that a cameo in the Netflix series has made a strong impact. 

In Mandala Murders, led by Vaani Kapoor, Pilgaonkar plays Rukmini, a woman leading a cult in the fictional town of Charandaspur of 1950s Uttar Pradesh. She may have barely five scenes in the eight-part series, but it has reminded the actor that the length of a role doesn’t determine its impact. “I have headlined OTT projects. So, when you think about perception, it’s a gamble to play a role with relatively less screen time. But something about Rukmini was magnetic. Also, less screen time doesn’t make me insecure as an actor. It becomes your responsibility to add weight to the part,” says the actor. 

A still from ‘Mandala Murders’