“I took inspiration from Shefali Shah”: Ashi Singh on playing Afreen in Amazon MX Player’s First Copy

Mumbai, 3rd July 2025: Amazon MX Player, Amazon’s free streaming service, recently released First Copy, a gripping crime thriller that transports viewers into the gritty lanes of 1990s Mumbai, where pirated tapes travel faster than truth and loyalty is always up for negotiation. At the heart of the series is Munawar Faruqui’s Arif, a Byculla boy with big dreams and no roadmap, who rises to notoriety as the kingpin of India’s video piracy underworld. But while Arif’s journey is steeped in ambition and chaos, there’s one character who stays steady through the storm — his wife, Afreen, played by Ashi Singh.

Talking about bringing Afreen to life in the series, Ashi Singh shared, “I had done a show set in the 90s before, so I was a bit familiar with the era. But Afreen is a completely different character from anything I’ve played before. She doesn’t speak much, but she says a lot just by being there. That kind of presence, quiet but fierce, needed a different kind of prep. During the process, the language was the biggest challenge for me. I had never spoken like that before. So I watched a lot of films, especially Darlings, and took inspiration from Shefali Shah. She’s so natural… so effortless. I tried to learn from that. I also visited some old neighbourhoods to absorb the feel of 90s Mumbai. It took some work, but I really wanted to get it right.”

Featuring Munawar Faruqui in his digital debut, alongside Krystle D’Souza, Gulshan Grover, Saqib Ayub, Ashi Singh, Meiyang Chang, Inam Ul Haq, and Raza Murad, First Copy is now streaming for free on Amazon MX Player. Watch it on the MX Player app, Amazon’s shopping app, Prime Video, Fire TV, and Connected TVs.