Bollywood seems to be getting back into the groove. Shoots are on in full swing, actors are ready to step out, and among the first crop of people to do it was Sara Ali Khan. She’d been shooting for her next, Atrangi Re, alongside Akshay Kumar and Dhanush, just before the lockdown was announced in 2020, and she got back to it right after the restrictions were lifted.

Talking about it, she says, “Of course there are restrictions, everybody has to sanitise regularly, wear masks. Two days before the lockdown in March 2020, I was in Varanasi shooting. Every moment of the lockdown, I was praying to go back on set!” The 25-year-old, recently spotted in Agra with Kumar, shooting for the film, adds, “Shiddat hai, longing thi, maheenon ghar pe band reh kar. The passion with which we make films stands the test of Coronavirus, small screen or big screen.”

Khan, who entered Bollywood with Kedarnath (2018), has already seen a lot in her career. While she has been close to the industry due to her lineage, how different is Bollywood now that she is a part of it? Khan says, “It’s a tricky question, everything changes when you’re inside. The one thing I will tell you is I am very lucky and privileged to be in this industry. I’ve forgotten what it is like to not be a part of it.”

Asked if there’s any advice she follows in her life or career, she says it’s what her mother, actor Amrita Singh says. “Everything I do comes from my mother, whether it’s styling or films. But the irony is she has told me, 'Listen as your mother, I can tell you what I think, but ultimately the only thing you have to rely on is conviction'. All has to come from an honest space, and that’s the mantra to life, I feel,” she adds.