I had great difficulty understanding Alizeh: Anushka Sharma - Page 2

Originally posted by: zaroonkashaf

Damn..what an interview! I absolutely adore Anushka. Her candor is something that's so rare especially when it comes to this industry man. I like how frankly she puts across her point of view about her character in ADHM. Has no qualms in stating that she didn't perhaps agree with some aspects of Alizeh but she tried to ask as many questions she could so she could portray her convincingly. That to me says a lot about how honest she's as an artist. I remember her going back to Ali or even staying with him despite him basically being a casanova was something a lot of us discussed in the ADHM review thread. I like that it was something she too questioned Karan about.

I also like how forthright she was while discussing the chaos that surrounded the release of ADHM.

I had great difficulty understanding Alizeh: Anushka Sharma

Originally posted by: zaroonkashaf

Just noticed Ankur Pathak took this interview. If I'm not wrong he's the same guy who took Shahrukh's interview a few months back and that one was darn good too.

Well, makes me think how insanely different you are in real life from Alizeh (her character in Ae Dil). Your performance was such that it's easy for one to confuse you two for the same person.

You know, I had great difficulty understanding Alizeh. Why would a woman allow herself to be treated like a doormat? Why does she want to go through all the pain and suffering for a man who doesn't love her back and cheats on her? After reading the script, I started judging Alizeh majorly. Which wasn't good as if it had remained that way, it would've hampered my performance. It's her conflict that holds the film together so it was very important that I reach a place where I start empathizing with her, instead of judging her. It took some time, but I could finally see her point of view.

For me, the film worked beautifully until the cancer angle was introduced. I felt the film could've remained exactly the same without the need for anyone to fall terminally ill. It seemed to me that illness was brought in to inspire sympathy for your character, one that is consistently resistant to the affections of Ayan. It was like the film wanted to punish you for not reciprocating.

Well, yes, a lot of people felt the same. And I too felt that the whole cancer thing made the film very morose. But if Karan wrote it in the script, he may have applied some thought. It could be coming from a deeply personal space. The way you cringe on the cancer angle, I felt like that about my character quoting film dialogues. But it's alright now. If a movie leads to so many different opinions, it's always a good thing.

How do you make peace with the worldview of a character that you have reservations about on a personal level? I think this is a very deep moral crisis for an actor to be trapped in.

It is. I couldn't get why the two characters were quoting movie dialogues to each other. Who speaks like that in real life, I asked Karan? Moreover, I am not a movie buff at all so I didn't get any of the references. It was weird. It was only when I was told that this is a dialogue from Chandni and so on, could I sort of get my head around it. As for the crisis, I won't do something unless I am entirely convinced about it, from the film's perspective. I've always been like that and even on ADHM sets, I had several questions for Karan. It kind of became an exercise that gave me more conviction to play out the character.

So then as someone who has been outspoken about sexism and misogyny generally, didn't you think there was a problem when Alizeh s**t-shames Lisa Haydon's character, having only just met her? You call her exploitative when you yourself don't have a problem using Ayan's (Ranbir Kapoor) jet to fly to Europe.

Okay. So here it is - Alize is a very superficial person, a pseudo-intellectual. She'll read fancy books only to be considered cool. She's judgmental and petty and fake. She pretends to be indifferent to the heartbreak she's had, act all cool about how she's fine when she's burning from within. The truth is she has started to hate certain type of women because of the manner in which she was dumped. It happens to a lot of girls. You'd have noticed in the way she mocks the air-hostess who Fawad left her for. And I feel it's okay for a character to feel like that.

Obviously, I wouldn't do that personally but at the end of the day even if my character's worldview differs from my own, I can pull it off convincingly as long as I am satisfied with the moralities of that character's universe. I have worked with the best directors - from Vishal Bhardwaj to Raju Hirani to Zoya Akhtar, but that hasn't stopped me from questioning them if I feel strongly about something that has left me unconvinced. That's the beauty of filmmaking - it is so deeply collaborative and no opinion is the right opinion but there must be space for it to exist.

her clarity 👏

Originally posted by: -HappyBird-

Despite having worked with the best directors in the business in fairly successful films that featured you in key roles (only actress to be directed by both Yash Chopra and Aditya Chopra), popular perception is tilted in the favor of Deepika Padukone as the 'reigning queen' so to speak and now suddenly, it's Alia Bhatt. Why do you think that is the case?

I am not aware if a perception like this exists but if I evaluate my career on paper, I think I've done some seriously good work. Maybe Deepika holds that perception because she has been more prolific. We were launched a year apart but I've done only 13 films whereas she has done nearly 30. Perhaps that plays a part. I don't know as I don't think these things unless I am made to.

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DP has had 21 Hindi film releases (excluding any cameos) 😳 quite far off from "almost 30" 😆