As told to Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 4, 2018)

For Ali Abbas Zafar’s period-drama Bharat, which I shot for in Malta, I had to speak English with a heavy Spanish accent. That required weeks of prep before I joined the shoot because my usual conversational style did not fit in with the character I play. I did a lot of one-on-one sessions with a Spanish friend. I used to hang out a lot with him and observe how he spoke and the way he sounded. These interactions helped me get the accent right and worked well for the role.

For another upcoming film, Nikkhil Advani’s Batla House with John Abraham, I’m currently taking diction training because this time I have to sound like a village girl and the accent plays an important part in bringing the character to life.

For my debut film Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans (right) in 2014, I had to train in martial arts for a month because I played a commando and had a full-fledged fight sequence. I also trained in using a harness and did my own stunts. Thankfully there were no injuries.

Moving on to my dance numbers, “Dilbar” was the kind of song I had been dreaming of all my life. I would watch videos on the internet in my free time for references. When the Satyameva Jayate team met to discuss the song, I made it clear I wanted an oriental dance style and didn’t want to mix styles. I discussed my ideas with Adil Shaikh and we went through a lot of change in choreography and it was freestyle in front of the camera.

For my music video, Raftaar’s “Baby Marvake Maanegi” (right), I learnt a style called Dance Hall. It required a few days of training. I would rehearse the moves with Raftaar and jam with him. When I was a contestant on the reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (left), I learnt a new dance form every week, from Tango to Contemporary, including lifts and how to move in-sync with my partner.

I have done some regional films and for the recently released Malayalam film, Kayamkulam Kochuni, I did a song called “Nrithageethikalennum”. I was told I would have to memorise the lyrics. It was an alien language and I had just a few days to get the lip-sync right. I was also expected to emote according to the words and each word seemed like a sentence to me. It was a complicated process. Even for Baahubali’s “Manohari”, a big song with Prabhas, I had to memorise the Telugu and Tamil lyrics. Believe me, all these chartbusters are not just song and dance!