Krystle D'Souza is riding a wave of fresh attention after Shararat, the viral song from Aditya Dhar and Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar. Marking her first-ever dance number on screen, the song sees Krystal share the frame with Ayesha Khan, with choreography by Vijay Ganguly. Set against a wedding backdrop, Shararat stood out for its energy, the party beats and the chemistry between the two women. In an exclusive conversation with Filmfare, Krystle opens up about the moment she realised the song had gone viral, the simple brief that shaped the performance, and the quick turnaround that led to the shoot. She also talks about bonding with Ayesha on set, sharing the stage with Ranveer Singh at the song launch, and why that moment stayed with her. Reflecting on her journey from television to films, Krystal shares her advice for her younger self, discussing ambition, self-doubt, and more. Excerpts: What was your reaction when the song was released? It didn't hit me for a while because I wasn't in India. I was travelling, and suddenly I started seeing it all over social media. I was getting tagged every five minutes. Then my friends and family began telling me the song had gone viral back home. I remember sitting in Amsterdam thinking, "Oh my god, what just happened?" It happened overnight, and suddenly everyone was vibing to the song. When I finally landed back, I sat in my car, turned on the radio, and there it was playing. Did you anticipate this response? I didn't think it would blow up to this level. I've never done a dance number before, so I didn't understand the magnitude of it. When we were briefed about the song, I heard it and thought it was catchy. After the meeting, when I was driving back home, I was automatically humming the tune and thinking, okay, it's stuck. So I knew this was something people were going to love, but to this extent, I didn't anticipate it. What kind of brief did you get from Aditya Dhar? I first got a call from Mukesh Chhabra's casting agency. They told me there was a song happening and asked me to come in for a test the next day. I went for it and met Vijay Ganguly (the choreographer) and Aditya Dhar. We did a few hook steps. The one that you see wasn't the only hook step we tried. We experimented with a lot of steps. After that, I was selected, and we were told we'd be shooting the song in the next three days. We had only that much time to rehearse. The brief was very simple. It wasn't a typical item song. It's two girls, and it is set in a wedding sequence, so the idea was to make it more fun and vibrant. Also, because it's two girls, the focus isn't on just one person or on making it an item number. Vijay sir said that I have a very different personality and so does Ayesha, and that's why they wanted to put the two of us together. That's a combination nobody would have thought of. Tell us about your bond with Ayesha... She's a really sweet and talented woman and a good dancer. When I was told that I'd be dancing with her, I went on her Instagram and saw that she dances so well. That gave me a motivational boost. When your co-star is good in a scene, you know the scene is going to be good. So, when your co-dancer is good, you know the dance is going to be good. We didn't rehearse much together because our lines of the song are different from each other, but when we came together on set, I saw she was so good and talented. It was a lot of fun shooting with her. We somehow just complemented each other in a very understated way. It's so important to have women who lift each other, and I think she's one of them. And I'm one of them for her. You also shared the stage with Ranveer Singh on the day the song launched... There was no plan to go up on stage. Jasmine Sandlas and Madhubanti Bagchi launched the song by singing it on stage. It was just the music launch, but when they started singing, we saw the crowd had started vibing to the song. That was the first time they heard Shararat, but everyone was vibing. That's when Ranveer said, "Krystal, this is your song. We need to go on stage and perform." I wasn't prepared for it at all because I was wearing a saree, and I was not sure if I'd be able to dance in a saree. But that's the energy Ranveer gives out. You feel like matching up to it. He gave Madhubanti and Jasmine the time on stage to sing the song, and then he said let's do it one more time, but with Krystal, because it is her song and she needs to perform it. He took me on stage and gave me the centre to perform. As an actor, as a human being and as somebody from this industry, that meant a lot to me. That somebody is giving you the importance in that moment. It's very rare to find that, that's why he's a superstar, and he is where he is. Ranveer wanted me to have my moment for my song and tried his best to do the steps as well. He told me that he'd copy my steps, and that was so sweet that he was trying to give me that motivation and attention for that moment. What's the best comp