Am a thinking actor: Alia Bhat
By Sanya Pandey
New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) Bollywood diva Alia Bhatt who has forayed into production with ‘Darlings’, calls herself a ‘thinking’ actor.
In an interaction with UNI, Alia talked about choosing Vijay Varma for the film, being a director’s actor, box office race and a lot more.
‘Darlings’ boasts of an exceptional cast including Alia, Shefali Shah, Vijay and Roshan Mathew in lead roles.If she was a director’s’ actor on the sets of ‘Darlings’, Alia said, “I am always a director’s actor. But I give my inputs. I am a thinking actor. I think as the character, after sometime I feel like I understand the character very well. But I have started not only thinking from my character’s perspective, but a larger perspective.”
“Like in a scene it’s written on paper that I have to do some activity, but when on set I felt like no I don’t think my character has to do something here, instead Shefali Shah’s character should do some action. And that actually happened.
“If you give enough logic and explanation why you are thinking that way, everyone understands that. At the end of the day it’s a democracy, we do everything together, but there is only one captain of the ship and that is the director.”
Co-produced by Gauri Khan, Alia Bhatt and Gaurav Verma, ‘Darling’ also marks the feature film debut for director Jasmeet K Reen.
Alia continues: “So as long as Jasmeet’s vision was met, everybody was happy. So the endeavour on a film set is always just to give the director their vision, and being it her first film, you wanted her to feel fully cushioned and supported, and let her feel that she can make what she wants, with utmost freedom.”
On why she chose Vijay as the parallel lead, the soon-to-be mom said, “when I heard this script, Jasmeet asked me who do you think for ‘Hamza’ (Vijay’s character name in the film), and I said ‘Vijay Varma’, and even Jasmeet said I was thinking of the exact same thing. We both at the same time gave Vijay’s name because he is a fantastic actor, he is known to be a chameleon, he fits into any role, any part you give him, he just seamlessly goes into it.”
“And we knew he would bring that freshness and newness to Hamza’s character in the film. When you will see the film, you will realise what a fabulous job he has done. But from the beginning it was very clear that he is the perfect Hamza,” the 29-year-old “Gangubai…” actor said.
On whether she had seen Vijay’s previous work, Alia said, “I have seen a bit of ‘Mirzapur’, I have worked with him on ‘Gully Boy’, just generally I have seen his work, and I have loved his work. He is just very natural, genuine, real and new. His delivery is very fresh. You believe the character, whatever role he plays you believe him.”
If content is more important for her while selecting a project, the ‘Shaandaar’ actress said, “there is no formula. Filmmaking, being a part of the movie world is all a bit of instinct game. Many factors come into making the film a good film. When I choose the film, it’s an instinct feeling that me as an audience, will watch the movie or not, whether I will be entertained. I think as an audience. It just naturally happens, I don’t think only about my character. First I see the film, that how will I enjoy it, and then I get into the depth that what is my part, and what I can bring to the table.”
“For me the overall content, overall mother of the ship which is basically the film is more important. The whole story, what it is trying to say and at the end how you are left feeling,” the ‘Udta Punjab’ fame said.
Alia, who was recently seen in Telugu drama ‘RRR’ talked about the North versus South debate. “I don’t understand why there is a debate. If movies are working fine, then it is a good thing. So what is the debate about?”
“We are Indian film industry and we should be proud of that. For many years, we are making films in more than 22 plus languages, so we know that some films will do well, some will not, and some will really really do well. That’s just the nature of the business. There is no North and South competition. And let’s not even try and create that. Everybody is just wanting to make a good film, and in fact if there is anybody we should be competing with it should be Hollywood. Why we are we competing with ourselves,” she said.
If she gets affected by the Box Office numbers, Alia said, “Of course I get affected by Box Office. You want your film to do well. Box office is a declaration whether your film has worked or not. When a film like ‘Gnagubai Kathiawadi’ does what it does at the box office, of course I feel validated, that our hard work has paid off. Even with ‘RRR’ you feel that validation.”
Alia also talked about the trolling on the social media and said it doesn’t affects her at all. “No, why should I get affected. There is nothing new in it. ‘Idle mind is a devil’s workshop’. We as a generation are focussing more on negative. We are giving it too much attention. The minute we stop giving it attention, it will just die.”
On Ranbir Kapoor’s reaction to ‘Darlings’, Alia laughed and said, “He has not seen the final film. Ranbir was also very busy. He was shooting in Delhi for ‘Animal’. Now he is in Mumbai, and I am here. We are playing ping pong with Delhi.”
‘Darlings’ is a dark comedy entertainer brimming with secrets, mystery and drama. The film delves into the lives of a resilient mother-daughter, fighting for love and finding their footing in Mumbai whilst also battling their demons. It is all set to premiere on August 5 on Netflix.
