Deepika Padukone, Ananya Panday starred in Shakun Batra’s latest film ‘Gehraiyaan’ which is available on Amazon Prime video. The cast joined us for a fun chat virtually. In this exclusive conversation with NewsX, the stunning team of ‘Gehraiyaan’ spilled the beans about their individual characters in the film and much more.
Sharing insights about the title of the show, the filmmaker, Shakun Batra replied, ‘Our search for the title was the longest. It took me longer to arrive at the title than the script, cast, rehearsals and the takes. It was probably a two year journey to get to the title, but it happened really quick. We were in search for a title that didn’t lend itself to some kind of judgement and we wanted it to be open to interpretations. When the co-writer of the film came up with the title, it took me a couple of days to feel that this was the one. But once we came up with the music, we felt like this was it. Also, I felt that if we waited any longer, we will not have a title.’
Sakun then told us about how he came down to this cast. He said, ‘Deciding the cast didn’t take long. Deepika was always on my mind and I had watched Siddharth in ‘Gully boy’. Dhariya was someone we found through casting. Again, my co-writer, Aisha had worked with Ananya and she was sure that she is the right choice. Ananya just had to be herself in the movie.’
Our next question was to Deepika about her part in the movie and if she imagined herself playing a role like this. The actor revealed, ‘I just knew that a film with Shakun would be one where I could sink my teeth into, one that would be close to reality and raw. Shakun is mostly inspired by Woody Allen and the likes. Even I have been someone who enjoys the same genre. Also, experiencing the complexity of my character in the movie is something that I haven’t gotten the opportunity to do before. I think intimacy has been bought into this movie not just on a physical level but also the intimacy between the characters. Moreover, the music and the way it’s been shot is so fresh. It’s new for India in so many levels.’
Actor Ananya Pandey then shared what appealed to her about the whole project when it came her way. Ananya exclaimed, ‘The complexity and the greyness in all the characters is what attracted me to this movie. In ‘Gehraiyaan’ we don’t categorize the characters as good and bad, instead we observe the characters and see how four people would respond naturally in a situation like this. We weren’t forming any judgements and that’s what hit me the most. Honestly, I just wanted to work with Shakun.’
Talking about her encounters with the co-actors, Ananya said, ‘I knew Siddharth a little bit because we had done a bunch of interviews together. I had met Deepika socially at parties but we all together encountered together at the workshop. We kind of have a natural chemistry, our sense of humors and very similar and that way we all get along very well. But the workshops kind of cemented that.’ Shakun candidly added that Ananya initially thought that she was joining a cult because the workshops were ritualistic and the only thing they didn’t tell her was to wear a uniform.
Talking about ‘Gehraiyaan’ being her first OTT release, Deepika revealed, ‘A lot of people might question this decision, and it’s so weird because couple of months ago, my agent and I wanted to discuss with the team that OTT was the best platform for this movie. We probably wouldn’t have made this decision 2 years, but the pandemic has opened up so many avenues. The entire team unanimously wanted ‘Gehraiyaan’ to be an OTT release. ‘