It’s been almost two decades that Indian-Australian video jockey-actor Anusha Dandekar has been walking the ramp and facing the camera. But, when the feeling of performing in front of a live theatre audience actually sunk in, she could not help define it as “intense”.TV host-actor Anusha Dandekar poses exclusively for HT City, ahead of the staging of her play at Kamani Audiorium.‘I’m very good at bargaining!’In Delhi recently, to perform in the play Lovable Rascal at Kamani Auditorium, Anusha breathes in the petrichor after a fresh downpour and gets reminded of the time when she would be out and about on Delhi’s streets for shoots and even shop at the markets here. Trying hard to remember the name of one the markets, she affirms upon prompting that it was “Sarojini Nagar”, and goes on to recount: “I was shooting there once for MTV and it was so much fun. Clothes, jewellery, everything was (displayed) outdoors, and I had the best time getting all the bargains. I’m very good at bargaining! I had a great time buying things in a certain budget.”Still sounding proud about her haul from SN, Anusha adds, “It was for the shoot (that I wore clothes from Sarojini). If it looks good on me, I don’t mind and can wear clothes from anywhere... With time, my visits to this city have become all about come and go with a gig in between. But earlier, whenever I would visit Delhi, I would go out to all these places and shop as well as eat because the food is amazing in Delhi!”‘Everything in Delhi tastes good’“Now you’ll ask me the places where I like to eat, and I must tell you that I again don’t remember the names,” she chuckles, and one of her co-actors in the green room reminds her of how they had together gorged on “suji pani puri” — quite typical of a Mumbaikar who would feel amazed upon discovering the existence of a pani puri aka Delhi’s golgappa in the suji (semolina) version. “Whatever I eat in Delhi, it just tastes so good. since I’m not a fussy eater, I don’t have any specific dishes to name. And, I’m never on a diet,” she says, and this interviewee exclaims pointing towards her fit bod: Where does it all go? Anusha quips: “It’s all mind over matter.”Appeal: Spare a thought for the staysIt is, however, not just Delhi’s food that has often left the 44-year-old in awe of the Capital. “I love Delhi’s vibe... also its infrastructure such as the wide roads and the gardens. There are lots of gardens here. Seeing people just sit around and spend time in these green spaces makes me very happy,” she confides.But mention the heat that has gripped the city dwellers, and her heart almost instinctively goes out to the strays in the city. “I just want to say to Delhiites: Please put out more water for the street dogs, cats and the birds. Just please keep water for them... it’s so hot and they really need water,” says the animal lover while refusing to comment on the Supreme Court’s recent orders on removing stray dogs from the streets. “I don’t fully understand the order, so I don’t want to take a stand on it. What I do want to do is speak up for the animals as they are voiceless. On a deeper level, I think, we as humans need to do better and take action. I don’t want to preach but just because we humans can speak it doesn’t mean that we are the higher power. May be we should learn from the voiceless; in their silence they say so much and we are not listening. I feel we need to: live and let them live!”‘Theatre is the only art form that can never die’ Circling back to the reason that made her land in Delhi this time around — ie theatre — Anusha reflects on how her maiden stage project continues to challenge the actor in her. “Lovable Rascal is my first theatre play ever,” she shares, adding, “I did a musical once — alongside actor Shilpa Shetty, in Europe — but that was intense in a different way. Here it’s a lot to remember as one can’t retake close-ups or makes cuts. Theatre challenges an actor in a really beautiful way. The adrenaline rush you get on stage, you’ll never get it anywhere else. I’ve had that as a host throughout my life, but hosting is kind of second skin... Also, theatre is the only art form that can never die. I’ve watched my father act in plays when I was young. So when my father had once come to watch me act on stage, it was nerve-wracking because I thought, ‘I can’t screw this up’,” she sums up.Fore more, follow HT City Delhi Junction