Alia Bhatt drew inspiration from Sanam Saeed’s character in the hit drama Zindagi Gulzar Hai to prepare for her role in the upcoming pre-partition drama Kalank, the Bollywood actor revealed in a recent interview.
"I watched a lot of old films like 'Mughal-E-Azam' and 'Umrao Jaan' to get an understanding of grace and body language. (And) I had to clean my Hindi as I am speaking Urdu (in the film). Abhishek asked me to watch 'Zindagi Gulzar Hai'. The character of the girl (Kashaf played by Sanam Saeed) in the show is very much how Roop will deal with the situation. She has responsibility on her shoulders so she is not always a happy person. She is vulnerable yet strong. It is difficult (to bring so many) layers - unhappy, vulnerable and strong to a character. Abhishek kept saying that I should be irritating," Alia told PTI.
The film has an ensemble cast that also includes Varun Dhawan, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditya Roy Kapur and Kunal Kemmu. Alia said working on a multistarrer like Kalank was a learning experience for her.
"I was excited to be a part of this film as I (thought I) would get an opportunity to work with so many different actors and I would pick something up from everybody. I used to chat with Sanju sir and talk about my dad (Mahesh Bhatt) and with Madhuri ma'am about diet. With Sonakshi, we used to talk about random things and Aditya was very quiet initially. He opened up later."
"I watched a lot of old films like 'Mughal-E-Azam' and 'Umrao Jaan' to get an understanding of grace and body language. (And) I had to clean my Hindi as I am speaking Urdu (in the film). Abhishek asked me to watch 'Zindagi Gulzar Hai'. The character of the girl (Kashaf played by Sanam Saeed) in the show is very much how Roop will deal with the situation. She has responsibility on her shoulders so she is not always a happy person. She is vulnerable yet strong. It is difficult (to bring so many) layers - unhappy, vulnerable and strong to a character. Abhishek kept saying that I should be irritating," Alia told PTI.
The film has an ensemble cast that also includes Varun Dhawan, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditya Roy Kapur and Kunal Kemmu. Alia said working on a multistarrer like Kalank was a learning experience for her.
"I was excited to be a part of this film as I (thought I) would get an opportunity to work with so many different actors and I would pick something up from everybody. I used to chat with Sanju sir and talk about my dad (Mahesh Bhatt) and with Madhuri ma'am about diet. With Sonakshi, we used to talk about random things and Aditya was very quiet initially. He opened up later."