EXCLUSIVE: Sara Ali Khan Pours Her Heart Out About Her Ordeals In A Candid Chat With Sandip Pal

Had been to Mehboob studio yesterday and my visit to the place turned out to be pretty special. Well, I met the mirror image of Amrita Singh, her and Saif Ali Khan’s pretty daughter Sara Ali Khan. The energetic lass was juggling between Ghagras and tank tops, hopping back and forth from the studio to her vanity!

Amidst all this chaos which the Kedarnath starlet was taking quite enthusiastically, I caught up with her over a tiffin full of almonds. (Well, yes you read that right – Wasn’t a cup of coffee)!

The Abhishek Kapoor directorial is her big break into Bollywood and she seems pretty well-equipped for it. At least that is what came out from our conversation, where she did seem to be carried away at times, at times a little thoughtful and at times as frank as ever!

Ladies and gentlemen, here is a girl who doesn’t have any qualms in calling herself silly if in case she realises she did miss something which was more than apparent! That’s her beauty!

Sara, you listening girl?

Her sense of humour, her presence of mind and her matter-of-fact thinking made our repartee more than enjoyable.

Excerpts from the conversation:

What are all the hurdles that you might have faced when you were shooting on the hilly terrain?

The primary thing that all of us had to go through was light. We would get a good master shot on the light and then we would not have light for many hours so we then had to wait for the sunlight and that was the greatest challenge especially because it was a time sensitive project. Sushant had to shoot for another film and my running joke on sets was – the DOP doesn’t have light, the actor doesn’t have dates, the actress doesn’t have experience and the director doesn’t have chaynn (calm).

But that little part where you say, the actress doesn’t have experienced sounds a little too far-fetched! Especially when acting runs in your veins –

No, but that is not true. Lot of things like the way that is look, I speak, I laugh runs in my veins but skill and talent is something that I have to work on. The advantage of having parents who are actors is that they can give me insights or inputs but they haven’t transferred anything, so it was hard! You know the other major concern that I had was the climate. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, especially because I knew that I had shoot in Kedarnath and the film was about the flash floods and it had to rain, I wasn’t prepared for the cold! I was there in the rain and it was really cold and became very difficult for me.

When I spoke to Pragya (Kapoor), she told me about how a part of the set was created here in Bombay, tell me how different was it or how problematic it was to shoot here when you had to keep the feeling of that actual place consistent in your head and enact out scenes with the same continuity in the makeshift setting?

I think it is lot more controlled in Mumbai. The lights and other things. So actually, it was a lot easier. As far as the feeling part for me is concerned, well I am a newcomer so I didn’t really know, but if I think of it now, it was just restricted to Gattu sir (Abhishek Kapoor) and Sushant and they were with me so it didn’t really matter where we were shooting in Kedarnath or Bombay. For me acting is purely a reaction. So yes, of course, the place that you are in really matters. Woh Wadiyon Ka Maza Alag Hi Hota Hai (The beauty of those valleys doesn’t have a match). But since shooting in those valleys were as hectic as they were, shooting in a controlled environment was much better and nice.

I am sure, you were a part of the narration process and you have even read the script being the actress prior to the shoot of the film. While you were reading the script didn’t the fact that it is absolutely similar to Satyam Shivam Sundaram come across to you. Especially because, in both the films, it is the girl who curses and the calamity happens, in both the films the logic behind the floods is nicely juxtaposed with the curse and in both the films, the protagonists hold on to something that has a religious significance to be saved in the end.

I am feeling so silly now, so bad because I didn’t. I have seen Satyam Shivam Sundaram and now that you have painted them out quite clearly, but no, I didn’t. I think the tonality in which the script was narrated to me… (PAUSES) –

Well, all the things that you just said are absolutely right and they hold truth, but you are talking about the context and the setting. The thing is even though the film is called Kedarnath, the context and the setting is not what the film is based on. In my opinion the film is based on a true and pure love story and the trials and tribulations that it goes through. So yes, they are actually shocking resemblances – I have never thought of this before. And I have seen the film, the reason I didn’t put this together is because, I am silly and because the umpteenth time that I have read the Kedarnath script, I have been so engulfed in it that I haven’t been able to think beyond it and I haven’t been able to make connections to other films. It was just a world in itself to me and I think the world is so beautiful and lovely that I couldn’t see how it could in anyway be connected to anything else. I think that is the best way I can put it.

How did you manage the kissing scene in the film, given the fact that this is your first film? Weren’t you uncomfortable?

I think it was as hard or as easy as any other scene in the film. I think your brief as an actor between action to cut, you are not you; you are another character, you are trying to portray that emotion, now that emotion could be an intense romantic love for the lead, or intense anger for your sister, whether it is sadness with life. I think just grabbing that emotion is most important. In fact, kissing is easier than the other things because Aapki Ankhein Bandh Hai Aur Aap Kiss Kar Rahe Ho, Wohi To Hai (when you are kissing, your eyes are closed, that’s it). I think it would have been more difficult if my director would have asked me to look into each other’s eyes instead of kissing!