Interview of deepika padukone

Interview of deepika padukone 

When the film got over and it went to black screen, I just sat there for five minutes The people I’m working with are all more talented than I am so I’m still learning This girl who you know first day in school with a pencil box, pen, highlighters and you know sitting with you know first bencher vibes He’s giving me updates on like what's happening on social media and who said what and so yeah, he's always been supportive There's a lot of qualities that Tia and I share so I think for me Insecure Hello everyone . Hi. Aaina So, the trailer looks super promising guys and it looks very urban. My first question is to actually Shakun. What I want to know is there is a line in the trailer where Deepika’s character goes like, aren't you guilty? To Siddharth’s character and he goes like, I did what I had to. My question to you is while building a character like that, was there a sense of fear at any point as to how the audience will take it because he said that line with such ease and no hesitance when he's making an unethical choice so what's your take on that? Well, I think we were very sure from the very beginning that we wanted to make a grown-up movie and we wanted to respect the maturity of the audience. So, we wanted to deal with complex stuff and we didn't want to over simplify or do a lip service to it. We wanted to really go ahead and you know deal with complex stuff in a sophisticated manner so no I think all of us were on the same page and I look forward to those kinds of movies where you know characters do go into the greyer zone and they accept themselves for who they are and who they become so no I wasn't really scared in fact I was excited if anything Alright and you know we've seen in Kapoor and Sons when you're casting for a film, again an ensemble cast. You're very bang on with the chemistry not only between the girl and the guy but also when it comes to the father and son or mother and daughter and so on what was in your head when you were casting for this film? So, I think when we start writing Aisha and I start discussing the world of the film and for me the world of the film is always more than just you know the two or three protagonists it entails, that's really where reality comes in that's where these characters become believable. And for me it's not just about casting the leads but building a world and world building is really where I feel it's most rewarding and most satisfying. So, Aisha and I spend a lot of time, we take a lot of pictures, we move them around then I jump in with my casting director and then Panchami comes in and then Panchami brings in a lot of her inputs and ideas and it's a process that kind of goes on but I genuinely think the most fun part is to kind of create the whole world and not just the characters My next question is to Deepika. What I want to know is you said it during your trailer launch that you know your character is vulnerable and your emotions are completely stripped. So, what I want to know is while acting, you kind of revisited places that you have faced in your personal life which was a dark phase in your life. So, between action to cut you kind of go back to that dark phase again to kind of get into the skin of the character. As an actor how do you switch from that dark phase and then come back to reality? When it's been so hard for you Well, I don't think as an actor you visit one specific place, I think that all of life's experiences make you who you are and I think eventually it's all of those emotions that you put into whatever character it is that you're playing. So I think having dealt with mental illness, it's something that I was familiar with you know and had this character not had that dimension to her you know I would have brought other layers you know to this character or to some other character that I’ve played so it's not specific to any one incident in my life really but it's more about just different experiences that I’ve had growing up and I think that's also part of an actor's life and I think that's why so much of acting is also just in your personal life just living life and having different experiences because yes, I think a lot of a character is on paper and a lot of it is in the writing but I think a lot of it, every individual actor brings to the table. So, it's not one specific moment but I think just based on your own experiences and your own intelligence and emotional intelligence what you bring to a character but yes there was certainly I’d say familiarity in terms of what Shakun wanted from me for this character. And you know when he came to you with the narration you said that you know you had a gut feeling at some point in your life that you will work with him in the future but when you heard it you kind of took your time to you know take this film on board, I want to know what were you thinking to yourself at that point when you were considering this film You know I watched the film two days ago and I had exactly the same reaction when the film got over and it went to black screen, I just sat there for five minutes because I think it comes from his films not being linear and his films not being spoon-fed. I think when a film is over and much like the narration it takes you time to just process this entire journey that he's taken you on. So, you know it happened to me during the narration and now I can say that after watching the film it's you know the same thing happened where and moments from the film, visuals from the film are still in my mind and I watched it like three days ago and so much has happened in the last three days. But still like I’ll be doing something and then there'll just be this visual or the scene that comes to my mind so I think the time that I took really was yes, one part of it is my process, which is I take my time not, it's not like I take months to revert but I take a couple of days you know to think about has it stayed with me, I hope I’m not being impulsive. So just to process everything what is it that I can bring to the table, how is this different from everything else that I’ve done, how can I push the envelope, so those are things that I’m thinking about in that moment because once you commit to something then you're in it. Again, I think like when I watched the film the other day, I had the same thing there's not one message or it's not one takeaway there are just so many layers and that's when I realised the title of the film is so apt for the film that we've made because you don't it's not one thing that you take home. There's just so much to process and it is very, very layered And we're excited to see this, we’re be excited to see your character for sure. You know what's been extremely different which we haven't seen in our industry is we have an intimacy director on board for this particular film. I want to know how did you get this idea and why you felt the need to probably choreograph the entire you know scene and how did you guys get comfortable with that entire idea of having an intimacy director on board? She said your idea it wasn't my idea; it was Shakun’s idea. Well, when we were writing the film, we started to very early on realise that intimacy is going to play a huge part in how I wanted to treat the film. So I wanted to make sure that I’ve done my background work and I was doing a lot of just reading interviews of directors who were working in the west and I realised that they were working with intimacy directors and I wanted to create and take steps towards creating a new kind of a culture, a new atmosphere for actors to feel safer, for to make sure that they know that we're not taking it lightly and that you know we're going to deal with it with detail nuance and also to deal with it in a way where it's not just supposed to be it's supposed to be doing the job of storytelling and expressing what these characters are going through. So, for me it was very important to kind of somehow build that world and an atmosphere right and then Dar Gai who's my very dear friend had done some beautiful work and videos that I loved so I called her and we decided to go on this journey together. And then we built from there the whole idea and the team and I think the actors are the only people who can tell you about the experience for me it was really just creating the world and then they were amazing enough to just you know trust us on that journey and go with us That's amazing. Siddharth, I want to know something, that you started off by doing a mega film with Zoya Akhtar and Ranveer Singh and then working with Yash Raj and Dharma and now Deepika and like you know Shakun and Ananya like it's a huge break and your career graph looks like super on point at the moment how do you manage to not get overwhelmed by these factors and be true to your craft and yourself? Well, thank you so much. I think it's because the people I’m working with are all more talented than I am so I’m still learning and that's how I don't get overwhelmed because I know that I need to put in more work, I need to work harder you know to match up to you know the level. Also, it's been my dream you know to you know be a part of these you know production houses, you know to be associated with you know good films and you know great directors like Shakun and Zoya and to be working with you know Deepika, Ananya. So, for me I feel it's didn't want to say it he just added, forced my name No, it's solely because I think the people I’m working with or I’ve worked with are I believe are more talented than I am and I need to really, really, really work hard and maybe there'll be a day when I I’ll feel you know yes, you know I’m better and that's when I think it'll get to my head but not now Listen we had a great time on this set and as serious as this is sounding it was a lot more fun on set, I think we had, just there were laughters in between shots and takes and even though he's saying I work with more talented people everybody was on the same page all the time. There were no I think there was no seniority or better I think it was just a bunch of friends and that's what happened. We became friends very early on in the film and then it was just an experience it wasn’t really good bad I think everyone's just trying to help each other you know That's how I don't get overwhelmed because they take my case all the time. And you know you worked with Ranveer and now Deepika I want to know as co-actors how different are they from each other? I think they are different but the same. They are same-same but different I mean they're different personalities obviously but when it comes to the craft you know it's the same. Same level of submission you know to the writing, to the direction, you know very disciplined. I mean the first time I met Ranveer you know I was reading with him and it was not Ranveer Singh you know I could just feel that he's just a boy who's trying to kind of get you know into the skin of Murad. The first time I met Deepika she was not Deepika she was you know this girl who you know first day in school with a pencil box, pen, highlighters and you know sitting with you know first bencher vibes. She got stationary for the whole crew I thought Yeah, so yeah, I mean the same but like in a special way And Deepika, what was Ranveer’s reaction after seeing the trailer? He is the most excited for this film to come out because he's been a big champion of Shakun and me working together. He feels like I do what I do best and Shakun's doing what he does best and then therefore when the two of us come together it gets even better. So, he's very, very excited. He's giving me updates on like what's happening on social media and who said what and so yeah, he's always been supportive and he continues to be with this film as well. We love how he promoted it on your birthday as well when he posted that You can also talk about how I promoted his films No but yeah I mean he's always been supportive of all of my work and it's actually a bit strange because when we met, we were doing films together and then it moved into I think his first film without me post Padmaavat was actually Gully Boy and so it felt different for me to be like okay, now you're doing a film and I’m not in it and then I had a release with in which he wasn't there and so it took some time to just sort of get used to that because our first interaction with each other were as co-stars. So, it took us a while to kind of disconnect from that and just be able to understand each other as actors without being in that film but yeah, he's very excited about this one And Ananya this particular character of yours requires to be a little more intense, it's more real as compared to the previous films that you've done. I want to know what was the challenge that you faced or if you faced any and how did you go about this process? Honestly, I haven't done that many films but I’ve only done three but this is probably the most emotionally fleshed out character that has come my way and honestly, it's actually all because of Shakun and I’m not just being nice and complimenting you but no, it really is he really helped me because I was nervous like the fact that they even wanted me to be a part of this film, I was firstly very excited but then after that I think even Sid was like how are we going to actually do it? When we thought about it. So, I was like especially in the scene Then we did it So, I hope no so I think a lot of conversations with Shakun helped. He's the kind of person who seeds an idea into your head and then he makes you feel like you came up with that idea which I think is kind of I learned that trick from Ayesha she does Yeah, so and also, I feel like this character was quite similar to how I am as a person or there's a lot of qualities that Tia and I share so I think for me Insecure The biggest one I'll be honest honestly but I feel like the hardest part for me was kind of being myself in that way or in front of the camera because sometimes when you're playing another character or someone that's really far away from you it's kind of easy to you know just be in someone else's shoes but when you're showing a vulnerable and fragile side of yourself in front of the camera it can get kind of scary but then it's also really liberating when it goes well I think I remember when we did our first few rounds of workshops and readings like I remember telling myself like the only thing I need to do is let her be herself like I really realise that I have to just get out of her way because she just had to be who she is without changing that and I think that really worked though Ananya, who is next on your bucket list after Shakun? Now that you have ticked his name Zo was on my bucket list, Zoya was on my bucket list but I am doing a film now that she's producing so I’m excited about that. I really want to work with Neeraj Ghaywan sir. Interesting. So, thank you so much guys Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Lovely talking to you. Can't wait for eleventh of Feb and all the very best you guys Thank you so much.