DNA (May 19, 2018)

Swara Bhasker, who plays a chain smoker in Veere Di Wedding (VDW), swears that she is done with lighting up on screen. The actress, who previously had to smoke bidis for Anarkali Of Arrah, says, “It was horrible because I also had to deal with the after effects like nausea and dizziness. And since director Shashanka Ghosh wanted to ensure that my smoking in VDW looked authentic, he would often tell me that I wasn’t smoking properly. So, that was a big issue as it was part of my character prep.”

Adding to her woes, when the director felt she was smoking right, he had a surprise for her. “Seeing me smoke convincingly, he made me smoke a cigar for a scene. It was gross! It was really the worst thing I’ve tasted in my entire life,” she recalls, adding that while she was sad when the shoot ended as she had a blast with co-stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor aka Sonam K Ahuja and Shikha Talsania, she was more relieved that she wouldn’t have to smoke a cigarette again. Swara sums up, “Now, I never want to play a character who smokes. If someone comes to me, offering a character who smokes, I’m going to be like ‘What! No need’.”

Hope her filmmakers are reading this.