Just Married, directed by Bobby CR and co-produced along with Ajaneesh Loknath under ABBS Studios, brings together Shine Shetty and Ankita Amar as Surya and Sahana. The family drama is steeped in traditions, conditions, unexpected turns, and for the two lead actors, this project carries an extra weight.
As the release nears this week, the mood between the two is part relief, part nervousness. Ankita compares it to waiting outside an examination hall. “I still feel like I am waiting for results,” she says. “We haven’t watched the film yet, and the real reaction is going to come from the audience. Until then, there is that nervous energy, because you don’t know how it has shaped up.
Shine laughs, while admitting the title of the film has confused people around him. “My mother keeps saying Just Married is a clue for me to get married. Even my friends and family were asking why they weren’t invited to my wedding. They thought I had secretly married. Now they’ve realised this is about my first outing as a main lead. The first step is always important, and I feel grateful Ajaneesh sir believed in me. He always said, ‘Prepare yourself for something better,’ and it was his call that really pushed me. I’ve done serials, I’ve been on Bigg Boss, I’ve played character roles, but this one was due for a long time. It is slowly sinking in that I am finally here.”
He recalls how director Bobby spotted him and trusted him with Surya, a character bound by a strange six-month horoscope window for marriage. “Seventy per cent of Surya is Shine Shetty,” he admits. “I could relate to the family he craves. It felt like a vacation living in that household, surrounded by so many characters. I have always dreamt of that kind of family legacy.”
For Shine and Ankita, the ensemble only added to the sense of achievement. “From Devaraj, Achyuth Kumar, Shruti, Malavika Avinahs, Ravi Shankar, Sriman, Anup Bhandari, Vani Harikrishna to Shruti Hariharan, sharing screen space with such a lineup is like graduating from a school of cinema. You learn from every single person, and I feel fortunate to step into the lead space with so much talent around me.”
For Ankita, stepping into the shoes of Sahana came with its own set of terms. “When Bobby narrated the role, I said yes immediately, but I also had to be honest about my limitations. I told her no kissing scenes, no short dresses, and of course, when the script had the ‘first night’ sequence, I was worried. But Shine was such a supportive co-actor. He gave me confidence, and I realised I wasn’t asking too much. Professionally, you still have to say yes to the director, but as a person, you set boundaries.”
Sahana, she hints, mirrors that thought. “There are rules she lays down for Surya—he shouldn’t touch or even talk to another girl. At the same time, she has to achieve her dream. It’s an unusual dynamic, and I think audiences will enjoy discovering it.”
What makes the film extra special for Ankita is working with a woman director for the first time. “Though my debut was Ibbani Tabbida Illeyalli, my first opportunity came with Just Married. Bobby saw Sahana in me before I believed it myself. She pushed me to be more glamorous than I usually am. Working with a woman director is different—you can sense her constant focus on emotions. Bobby would even play music on set to set the mood of a scene. A male director and a female director both have the same vision, but they bring different sensibilities. For me, it felt like I could define that thin line for the first time.”
Agreeing to this line of thought, Shine says, “It’s like the difference between a mother and a father. Both love you, but their ways are different. I worked with Rishika Sharma earlier for Vijayanand, and now with Bobby for Just Married, and I feel that at the end of the day, the director is the captain of the ship, irrespective of the gender. Our job as actors is to remove doubts once we enter a project and just give it everything.”