Birthday special: Top five roles played by Sayani Gupta

Actress Sayani Gupta loves to experiment with her roles and each character that she was portrayed in her films, has only proved her versatility as an actor. Working both in films and digital shows, the actress is known to surprise her audience with the transformation she undergoes for each of her projects. On her birthday today, we list down her five most powerful roles in films: Gaura in ‘Article 15’In the acclaimed Anubhav Sinha directorial, Sayani was seen in the role of a severely downtrodden yet brave Dalit woman, Gaura. The 2019 crime thriller is based on Article 15 of the Indian Constitution which prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Sayani’s character, in the gripping narrative, appeared empowered, strong, fearless, and desperate for justice. To lend authenticity to the role, Sayani designed her own look and dived into choosing her props and clothes. The actor was also coached in the Hindi dialect of Uttar Pradesh. All the hard work paid off as her impeccable portrayal was lauded generously by the critics. She not only looked the part, but she invoked pathos with her performance as a woman seeking survival in a cruel world. Khanum in ‘Margarita With A Straw’Shonali Bose's 'Margarita With A Straw' premiered worldwide at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation. This moving film centres around an Indian teenager with cerebral palsy — Laila Kapoor (essayed by Kalki Koechlin); she relocates to America for her undergraduate education and comes of age following her complex relationship with a visually-challenged girl Khanum, played by Sayani Gupta. The actor is seen essaying a differently-abled activist of Pakistani-Bangladeshi descent; not to mention a fiercely independent girl, who is unfazed by her own disability. Sayani drew up a captivating portrayal of a determined girl who's in love with Laila. The actor was applauded for embodying Khanum in a way that was emotionally arresting. Hina Siddiqi in ‘Jolly LLB 2’In this legal thriller, Sayani essayed the role of Hina Siddiqi. The story of the film kicks off with a streetsmart lawyer (Akshay Kumar) hoodwinking Hina to set up his chambers. She then commits suicide. In this film, Sayani held her own as Hina Qasim, a newly wedded woman, whose husband had been murdered. Although the actor's role in the film is brief, her performance hit the mark and she made viewers' hearts bleed with her portrayal of a pregnant widow seeking legal recourse.Regha Sathe in ‘Posham Pa’‘Posham Pa’ is a psychological thriller film directed by National Award-winning filmmaker, Suman Mukhopadhyay. Sayani is seen in the role of Regha Sathe, a schizophrenic killer whose crimes originate in the psychological scars she endured as a child. The actor was seen in the menacing get-up of an imprisoned elderly woman. This film has Gupta depicting glimpses of the psyche of a sociopath and a serial killer.Upasana in ‘Axone’'Axone' is a bittersweet comedy that follows a few immigrants in Delhi who while attempting to organise a wedding party, find everything going wrong. Sayani essays the role of a 23-year-old Nepali girl Upasana, who helps her friends prepare the Naga dish, axone for a celebration. The actress nailed everything from portrayal to the Nepali accent in the satire that touches upon themes of discrimination through humour.