Playing Bijlee was mentally draining: Anushka Sharma

For Anushka Sharma, playing the role of Bijlee in "Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola" was far too complex than the roles she has done till now, and even left her mentally drained.

"So far the characters which I have played have been very strong girls so I cannot play them in a relaxed way. I played them the way they were written. Bijlee is one of the most complex characters I had to play," Anushka told IANS.

"My character is saying something and means something else, you have to read between the lines. It is a complete dichotomy. For me, the way she (Bijlee) was, was not something which I could relate to naturally. I just could not relate to her. She is very vague and vain," she added.

Written and directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, "Matru Ki Bijlee..." also features Imran Khan and veteran actor Pankaj Kapoor. It is due to hit screens Jan 11.

But being a Vishal Bhardwaj film, Anushka says she was prepared for the unexpected.

"Vishal Bhardwaj's films are not obvious. That is what I had to learn. Human beings are flawed and he works in this grey area. When a film is not very verbose, it is the in-between spaces you have to fill, which becomes difficult," said the 24-year-old.

"Mentally it was draining. After a few days, I sent a message saying I don't think I can do this. Everything which I have done has been simple till now. Here there are too many layers. I would have spoilt it if I had played it linear," she added.

However, the actress agrees she has learnt a lot during the course of the film.

"When I started shooting this film, I saw the world in either black or white. After doing this film, somewhere I started accepting things more, and became less judgmental. I started to sympathise with people. Everyone has made mistakes in life and acceptance of that was what I learnt in the film," said Anushka, who made her Bollywood debut with 2008 film "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi".

"Vishal Bhardwaj has seen a certain kind of life. He has seen so much which you and I won't even think is true, because we have lived in big cities. He has learnt a lot from life and that's what you see in his films," she added.