Lara Dutta Bhupathi’s resemblance to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in the trailer of Bellbottom, has been creating ripples on social media. The actor says she too was shocked to see her transformation. “Once we did the look test and I saw myself in the mirror, I was blown away, I couldn’t recognize myself. I had to look hard to find any semblance of Lara in the mirror looking back at me. My jawline looked so different!” she shares.

To play the iconic leader, Bhupathi had two options – either play a character loosely based on Gandhi or go full out and resemble her as closely as possible. What also made the transformation process challenging for the role was ageing her skin. “Vikram Gaikwad and his team who did the prosthetics went through a long process. I was playing a character who was two decades older than me for the time frame we’re portraying her in,” she says.

Her father, retired Wing Comander L K Dutta, who was Gandhi’s personal pilot, gave her valuable inputs. “When I was offered this film, I knew my dad would be a source of information for me to be able to build on Mrs Gandhi’s psyche and body language. The biggest compliment is hearing from him that I’m convincing enough and he’s proud of me,” Bhupathi ends.