Prachita Pandey (DNA; October 5, 2017)

Zaira Wasim, who played the young Geeta Phogat in Dangal, will soon be seen in another Aamir Khan film. Her journey in acting began when she was selected for a play based on female foeticide, in school.

After that, when a casting director from Mukesh Chhabra’s office was in Kashmir looking for a girl for Dangal, she auditioned for the part. Another audition landed her the part in Dangal and then in Secret Superstar. Here she talks about her second film, working with the superstar and why people don’t recognize her despite the success of Dangal.

You got a chance to work with Aamir Khan twice...
I was pretty sure that there’s no chance of me getting selected for Dangal or Secret Superstar) because when I was auditioning for Dangal in front of AK (that’s when I saw him for the first time), I kept forgetting my dialogues. And even when I got shortlisted for Dangal, I kept forgetting my dialogues. I’m very lazy and I’m a very clumsy girl so I never expected to get selected.

What was the brief that was given to you for Secret Superstar?
I think they had put out this ad that they were looking for a girl who was in her early teens and who can sing. So, I was very sure that there’s no chance of me getting selected because I don’t know how to sing and also because I was in the middle of Dangal. So, when I went for the audition, I was just given my lines and I performed. The next day, I met Advait (Chandan), and he narrated the story and that’s how everything happened.

What was it like on the sets?
Oh, it was absolute fun! People think that it’s a very strict kind of environment, but it’s pretty fun and very chilled every time I would go on the sets. The relationship between me and Advait grew gradually to a point where I felt like I was working with a friend.

Did Aamir help you with your scenes?
It was absolutely the director’s call. Aamir sir would obviously help me. The main thing that he told me was to be very sure about the guitar, which I was learning. So the only brief he gave was, it has to look like you’re actually playing it, which I learnt later and also that I had to look like I was singing.

Did you strictly go by the instructions of Advait or you gave your inputs as well?
Both. So, he would tell me the scene and narrate that this is how you need to do it and then I would emote it in my own manner. I would imagine myself in that situation and think how I would react to it.

How was working in Secret Superstar different from that in Dangal?
Honestly, Dangal is now more like a memory to me. Even when I look at the film, I cannot watch it like a movie. It’s more like a playback going on right in front of me. For Secret Superstar, I felt a little more responsible. I felt like an actor all of a sudden. The only difference was the guitar and singing from playing a wrestler. Obviously, I had short hair in Dangal (chuckles), that was the main difference. Apart from that it has been quite similar because it was the same set of people I was working with. It has been an amazing journey.

Post Dangal’s success, you must be getting recognized wherever you go. Good feeling?
You know, people have a very hard time recognising me. People literally stand in front of me and argue. One guy will say, ‘Yeh woh nahi hai’, and the other one will say, ‘yehi hai.’ I really don’t know how to react. Should I pay heed? Should I tell them? Or should I ignore, what should I do? But there are times when people come and take pictures. Apart from that nothing really has changed. There’s so much love. I get very nervous every time a person comes and clicks pictures.