Ever so rarely, an actor comes across a piece of art so strong that it almost becomes cathartic. For Rasika Dugal, Delhi Crime proved to be that. Based on the 2012 Nirbhaya case, the Richie Mehta-directed series was widely appreciated for its powerful storytelling. "All of us had felt a lot of emotions about the Nirbhaya incident. [Among other emotions], I felt the guilt of having moved on from it too quickly. By being a part of this show, I tended to the incident in the way I wanted to," says Dugal, whose quiet but steely act as probationary officer Neeti Singh has earned her a Best Supporting Actor (Female) nomination in the upcoming mid-day and Radio City Hitlist Web Awards.

The actor reveals that she did two rounds of auditions for the police procedural — one for the casting director, and another with co-star Shefali Shah. "The subject needed to be dealt with a lot of sensitivity. But I was confident that Richie would have written something important." To prep for the series, Dugal shadowed a police officer. "I didn't want to depict anything incorrectly in the police procedural. If I am playing a cop, I [can't afford to] get the salute wrong. Similarly, I will never do a scene where I am seen waking up with make-up. These are few things I had in mind when I graduated from film school," she smiles.

Her conscientious approach has held her in good stead. The actor is one of the few artistes to have bagged two nominations at the upcoming gala, including the Best Actor (Female) nod for her act in Out of Love. "Since I had never headlined a show, before Out of Love, I wanted to check if I could hold the audience's attention when I am in every frame."