Roorkee-born actor Muskan Verma, who plays Randeep Hooda’s team member’s daughter and his ‘sister’ in Inspector Avinash, says her on-screen brother’s commitment inspired her to give a “masterclass performance in one of the toughest scenes” in the show.
She tells HT City, “During the shoot I noticed how Randeep sir used to remain in character even when he was not shooting. Off camera too, he would speak and behave like Avinash. It was truly a masterclass to watch such dedication. I took a cue from it and it helped me in a very emotional scene in the shot.”
Muskan plays STF team member constable Laxmikant’s daughter (played by actor B Shantanu). Talking of her on-screen father’s cremation scene, she says, “Everyone was in tears and I got so involved in it that I literally lost control. The scene when I take the lead for the cremation fire ceremony is very powerful, where I take the responsibility of a son, which made viewers emotional. I am getting a lot of appreciation for that scene and I am flooded with messages and DMs.”
On how she achieved it, she reveals, “On the shoot day, I kept myself distant from everyone to remain in character and in the scene. To get that right, I felt something wrong had happened to me. For a moment, I imagined that he is my real father and when Randeep sir consoled my emotional outburst, he was literally like a real brother to me. Probably that’s why the feelings were so deep and that reflected on screen.”
She credits Randeep and the director for getting it right. “Sir helped me a lot and guided me where I had some doubts. Neerraj (Pathak, sir) had suggested that I keep the glamour quotient aside and catch the mannerisms of a simple middle-class girl, and I worked on it and it came in very handy for me.”
Her shooting took place in Lucknow, Mumbai and Rajasthan.
‘Pandemic gave me this show!’
The actor says it was during the Covid-19 pandemic that she bagged the role for this show. “I was in Mumbai and that was the time actors were shifting back to their hometown. My family too wanted me to shift but I chose to stay back. It was in that period a casting person told me about this role and to meet Neerraj sir. I did not take it seriously but he called me again. I met sir and after five rounds of auditions I got the role. It was a tough phase for everyone but had I left Mumbai I would have lost the role. It was a blessing in disguise,” she says.
‘Hindi-base helped me’
Muskan says her hailing from the Hindi belt is helping her in heartland shows. “I hail from Roorkee, which was earlier in Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand). My father is a journalist and my mom a teacher, so Hindi comes naturally to us, but I read a lot and took workshops to improve it. This Hindi is a bit different from my hometown so I have to work on smaller nuances like bauji, hum and more. Command over Hindi certainly helps us and gives makers confidence,” she says.
Summing up her career graph, she says, “I started my journey with a commercial with Suniel Shetty. I played Radhaji’s friend Chitralekha in the TV show RadhaKrishn but left it midway for a film which unfortunately got shelved. I have done the music videos Baarish (2021) for singer Altamash Faridi and Ranjhna Ve (2024) for singer Swati Sharma and ghazal Mukkammal (2025). I have another show that is going on floor but we can’t talk about it till it is announced. We may also have a third season which I am hopeful of. The journey has just begun!”