Bollywood star Sonakshi Sinha opens up about rejecting scathing reviews and her role in 'Dahaad'

Gulf News

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00:00Well, I wouldn't say it's the final thing. It's the beginning of great things and new things and

00:05hopefully it'll continue this way. But yeah, I agree with you. I'm underutilized.

00:13You should tell all the directors and producers, what are you guys doing?

00:20Is this the final thing where, you know, we can see you really, you know,

00:25they extracted your full potential?

00:27Well, I wouldn't say it's the final thing. It's the beginning of great things and new

00:30things and hopefully it'll continue this way. But yeah, I agree with you. I'm underutilized.

00:40You should tell all the directors and producers, what are you guys doing?

00:45But you know, Reema and Zoya came at such a correct time and this is when I was really

00:51waiting for a role like this, which I can really sink my teeth into. And you know,

00:55working with creators like them is such a pleasure for any actor. The way they've

01:00written the entire series, the way they've written all the roles, my character. It was truly

01:08such a wonderful experience being this character on screen and I'm truly grateful to them.

01:15Do you think they're a lot more sensitive as filmmakers because they are women or

01:18do you find it different?

01:20I think as directors, I've worked with Reema, not Zoya. I would love to work with her.

01:25But as directors who are female bring a different sensitivity to the way they approach

01:32subjects. This is the second time I've worked with a female director. The perspective is

01:37very different from how they explain it to how they shoot it to how they bring out you know

01:43the character from an actor. It's different but again saying that, I just think they're very,

01:48very, they are just brilliant minds. The way they know how to fight for what they want.

01:55It all just adds, it just makes them amazing and I feel you know they're not the kind of

02:02regular producers who are doing this only for the business of minding. They are creators.

02:08They want to create something beautiful from scratch. Their first priority is that we have

02:13to create something beautiful. They are truly creative people and it's a pleasure work.

02:18What kind of homework did you do? Like did you talk to these guys? Did you observe or did you

02:22watch a lot of procedurals and documentaries you know just to know, to look that certain way

02:28and because this is not your world like this is not where you come from actually, right?

02:32This is not your job.

02:33Not at all. But my job is an actor's job and it's the best job in the world. I can be whoever I want to be.

02:40That is true and you don't know.

02:43Yeah but no so my what I, this is a favourite genre of mine. I love watching crime dramas

02:50even you know when I have some time off so I've seen a lot of shows, a lot of movies

02:57from this genre so it's pretty much there in my head and I pick up like by watching, observing

03:03people, by watching the behaviour, by speaking to them, by looking at them from afar so and my

03:10biggest homework is speaking to my directors like I like to pick their brain and understand what

03:15their vision really is for when they want me to play a character so having done that when we

03:21landed up to shoot in Rajasthan, Harima would every day call you know maybe one or two

03:29female officers just to hang around the set to teach us how to salute right, get the salute

03:34proper and stuff like that so talking to them, seeing how they are, you pick up a few things

03:40here and there, you keep those in your mind and that's how you kind of you know and then you use

03:44them whenever you need to as an actor when you're playing a character. Certain other things like

03:49the body language, the walk, the you know the stance, the salute all of that comes, I felt it

03:57came automatically to me when I wore the uniform. That uniform just brings a sense of authority and

04:03power that doesn't come on with anything else so that was half the battle one then of course I had

04:10to learn how to ride a bike, work on my dialect and stuff like that to to really become Anjali

04:16Bhatti so it was a really enjoyable experience.

04:20It's very different for you right, it's not a Bollywood song and dance musical, it's not.

04:25Not at all, not at all and that that was a refreshing change for me as well to be able to do that

04:32right now. I'm telling you I'm feeling the same way I felt when my first film was releasing, this is

04:38my first day, digital, this is my debut and I'm feeling the exact same way.

04:46Do you think you felt as if you were liberated like there's not just three hours, this can go on

04:51for hours, you can really like show your heft.

04:54Yeah, it felt good to be able to live with the character so much longer. I feel like the first

05:00few days we were kind of figuring out and then once you get into it, you get into it and when you

05:04enjoy this character which I loved it from the get-go like when I read the script only when I

05:11heard the narration that's when I fell in love with the character so for me to be able to live

05:16with her for that much longer where she's developed in every episode, moving forward you know you

05:23get the makers get that much time to kind of sketch out each and every character in that and

05:27that's so nice you know.

05:28There's another trailblazer there it's called Vijay Verma who I'm telling you he's so good if

05:33in the series you know we just take out how was it he has the most deadpan expression the most

05:38unassuming most serial killers are like that in series they fly under the radar as we say it but

05:45was it good to act with such a powerhouse talent like what did you observe about him?

05:50It was it's you know for an actor it's the best most satisfying thing when you share screen space

05:59or the same scene with other good actors and everyone on this show has been so phenomenal

06:08right from Vijay to Gulshan to Soham there's so many other characters in our show that that you

06:13know have really excelled in their parts for an actor to be able to kind of just you know feed

06:19off the energy of another good actor is the best thing there's been a lot of talk about police

06:25brutality how it's glorified in movies etc where you guys very sensitive as well that that's not

06:31the case you know just to throw your weight around and glorify it.

06:36No you know we're telling a story we're telling which is completely fictional yes we are playing

06:45police officers but then we're showing you all kinds there's officers like Anjali Bhatti,

06:50there's officers like Gulshan Devaiah who was so righteous and will do anything to make sure

06:57the right thing happens then there are certain other in every profession you know you'll find

07:02all sorts right so that's what we're showing here as well there was no intention to kind of

07:08bring out the bad side or show only the good side we're just playing it straight.

07:12Are you scared of the reviews my friend?

07:14I've always kind of gone by what the feedback I've gotten from real people maybe I mean

07:21everybody's real but like I mean people I meet, people I see whatever I read online stuff like

07:27that I actually stopped reading reviews a while back because in my initial years only because

07:35the films were big blockbusters but the reviews were always bad so I was like confused what is

07:42happening with my life you know so I just stopped reading them but yeah the hope is that always

07:50that you know people enjoy my work no matter where they see it and yeah I'm moving forward just with that.

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