Amazon Prime Video’s latest release, Candy and the Pizza Ggirl, which premiered on April 10, brings a quirky mix of dark comedy and offbeat storytelling to the screen. Packed with an unconventional narrative and eccentric characters, the film features Priya Banerjee, Ninad Kamat, Sivani Singh, Dara Sandhu, Nimish Shitole and Aniket Sanghvi in key roles, while also marking Akkhil Kapur’s debut in feature films.
In an exclusive chat with Hindustan Times, Priya Banerjee described the film as “wacky” and unlike anything she has done before. Opening up about her role, she revealed that playing a girl obsessively fixated on pizza challenged her as an actor. She further shared that Candy and the Pizza Ggirl stand apart from typical Indian films, adding that it carries a distinctly “Hollywood-style” approach to its script and treatment.
Priya Banerjee talks about Candy and The Pizza Ggirl
Priya revealed that she found her character very different and explained why she agreed to do the film. She shared that the director reached out to her after seeing some of her pictures online and said, “He wanted to audition me. So I got a call, and I auditioned for it. He read the script to me, and I was like, this is wacky because in India you don’t really hear scripts like that. People here don’t often take risks with such stories. It has a very Hollywood approach to storytelling. It’s crazy, it’s wacky, and there’s so much happening in one night. The characters are so unique. My character is scared of going out.”
She added, “The first time he described my character, I was like, ‘This is very wacky, this girl is crazy.’ She has a tattoo of a pizza on her neck. The irony is, I don’t like pizza in real life at all. I thought, ‘It’s insane.’ For me, work should always be fun. Your characters should be challenging and enjoyable. So I was sold on the way he described the Pizza Girl.”
Priya further described her character as intriguing and shared, “I felt it was so wacky that India wouldn’t usually come up with a script like this. Maybe five years down the line, in mainstream cinema, it could happen. Then I remembered a film like Kala Kandi, which had a similar vibe. Not exactly the same, but equally offbeat. The character was so appealing that I had to do it. I am nothing like her. I don’t believe in astrology.”
She also recalled unintentionally hurting one of her co-stars while filming a crucial scene. “It’s a very funny story behind the scenes. The actor whom I ended up stabbing, I had an actual screwdriver-like prop in my hand, which I was supposed to use in the scene. It was sharp, but the team had covered it carefully so I wouldn’t hurt him. I was being extra cautious and kept my nails ahead of the prop so that if anything touched him, it would be my nails. But my nails were longer and sharper than the object itself.”
She added, “When I performed the scene, I actually ended up scratching him with my nail. He wasn’t badly injured, but he was hurt. Poor guy, he’s a great co-actor. Thankfully, the scene turned out very natural. The film has been made in a very different way. It’s not like most films we see here, especially in Bollywood.”
Priya Banerjee revealed hubby Prateik Smita Patil’s reaction to her film
Priya also revealed that her husband, actor Prateik Smita Patil, loved the film. “Prateik watched it quite some time ago. In fact, I told him, ‘This is your kind of film,’ because he enjoys wacky cinema. He said, ‘This is my kind of movie, I loved it.’ I personally wouldn’t usually watch a film like Candy and the Pizza Girl because I lean more towards horror. This is very wacky and chaotic, something he would enjoy more. The director even showed it to him right after editing because he wanted his feedback. He loved it and was laughing throughout. He also loved the fact that my character is obsessed with pizza, because he loves pizza himself. He ended up ordering one and eating it that day.” The film is available to watch on Prime Video on rent.