MUMBAI MIRROR (June 3, 2019)

Kumud from Bharat was a challenging character to play because it spans over 40 years and you watch her go from her 20s to her 60s which is something I’ve not done earlier, barring a couple of scenes in Baar Baar Dekho. In this film, I get to depict the life of this woman and her journey with Salman’s (Khan) character Bharat. The prep was different for every decade depending on the era, for instance during the 1970s, when Kumud is a feisty young woman, it was all about getting the tone and dialogue delivery right. But as she grew older, it was important to understand her state of mind at every phase, identify with her primary thoughts and fears, and align myself to her emotional graph as that would help mould my body language.

We shot the film in chapters and I did a lot of workshops to understand Kumud and her mannerisms. She speaks ‘saaf’ Hindi and I wanted to be fluent and comfortable with the language so I rehearsed my dialogue with experts.

For Zero’s Babita Kumari too I had several discussions with Aanand sir (producer-director Aanand L Rai) and a few others to ‘feel’ her emotions. Analysing her fears at times made me break into tears during my interactions with Shah Rukh (co-star Shah Rukh Khan). Initially, Aanand sir had wanted Babita to be like the actresses in our industry, but later she turned out to be diametrically opposite, a self-destructive character, and I would shut myself away from the world because the set was not a happy place to be at.

Physical prep is easy for me as that’s all about discipline and execution. So, for the Tiger franchise (Ek Tha Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai), in which I play ISI agent, Zoya, it was all about strength and flexibility training for a certain number of hours and repeating the process till I had perfected the action. It was a mathematical process which, if done right, gave you the desired result.

I wanted longer rehearsals for Tiger Zinda Hai, but Ali (Abbas Zafar, director) was adamant about filming my solo action scene on a pre-decided date. I trained with a team of professionals from the West. They taught me how to lock a gun, load and fire it. I also took sniper training. Agents also walk in a certain way and have a way of communicating messages and conveying commands—everything was a part of this workshop.

For Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan, I took some belly dancing lessons for “Sheila Ki Jawani”. The training enhanced my core strength. I rehearsed the moves for around two hours a day, then, separately, with the belly dancers. We would stand, roll up our sleeves, learn and practice continuously and rigorously to get control over the core muscles because that’s what belly dancing is all about. I later used that trick in other films. We shot the song in just two-and-a-half days.

As compared to “Sheila Ki Jawaani”, “Chikni Chameli” in Agneepath was a lot more difficult. It was shot over nine days, I had to dance on gravel and sand, and by the end of it my bare feet were bleeding. By evening, when my energy was flagging, I would cheer the background dancers to get myself going. There’s so much energy in the song, and that’s the emotion which you get to see on the screen.