Shehnaaz Gill remains one of the most popular contestants to have ever emerged from the Bigg Boss house, with videos of her infectiously bubbly persona during her Season 13 stint continuing to go viral even today. From ‘sadda kutta, kutta, tuada kutta Tommy?’ to ‘such a boring day...such a boring people’, Shehnaaz’s one-liners have been ruling social media for a long time now. However, during a recent visit to an NCR retreat centre, we got to see a more sombre side to her. Last year was a turbulent one for the singer-actress, who lost her dear friend and BB13 co-contestant Sidharth Shukla in September. And though she chooses to refrain from speaking about it, she opens up at length about her spiritual journey. Excerpts:

“Actually, jo meri reality hai na, woh bahot pure hai. Mujhe spiritual journey mein bahut zyada interest hai,” Shehnaaz tells us, adding, “Humari life mein mental health important hai and I feel agar hum khush hain, toh hi sab achcha lagta hai. Tabhi hum kaam kar sakte hain. Meri spiritual journey saath mein chal rahi hai.”

Is her interest in spirituality newfound, we ask? “Pehle kam tha, but ab zyaada ho gaya hai. Now I know what meditation is, knowledge ke bina tum kuch nahi ho. I have understood that this is a temporary world and humari spiritual journey kaam aayegi, aur kuch nahi,” she adds.

She continues, “Real world yahi hai, because physical body thodi der ki mehman hoti hai. Hum sabko pata hi nahi hai ki hum kahan se aaye hain. Aap kisi cheez mein interest doge tabhi aapko woh bhi interest dega na? Toh connection banana padhta hai uske liye. Maine woh kiya.”

Shehnaaz adds, “We keep giving time to people around us, but if we learn about positivity and how to live with it, things can get really better.”

Talking about reconciling this spiritual side of her with her lighter, ‘fun’ side that the world is more accustomed to, Shehnaaz says, “Shehnaaz Gill woh toh hai hi, kyunki woh reality hai... aur yeh bhi reality hai. Yeh jo Shehnaaz Gill hai, shayad usse baaki cheezon ki knowledge nahi hai, but usse spiritual world ki bahut knowledge hai. I mean, kaise situations ke saath deal karna hai, kaise strong rehna hai, peace mein rehna, yeh Shehnaaz ko aata hai. Yeh alag duniya hai. Shehnaaz fun bhi karti hai... Shehnaaz woh sab karti hai jo life mein karna chahiye, Shehnaaz enjoy bhi karti hai, and iska yeh matlab nahi hai ki maine sanyas le liya hai. Yeh nahi hai ki main sirf meditation kar rahi hoon baithke... tum achhe kaam karo, achha bolo, achha suno, kisi ko hurt na karo. So, I won’t say these are two people. This is one person, but people don’t necessarily get it because reality logon ko pachti nahi hai.”

Shehnaaz’s fans mean everything to her, and she also took out the time to pose with and greet each one at the retreat. She says, “I am here because of them. Woh mujhe itna support karte hain, mere liye itna time nikalte hain. Mera farz banta hai ki mujhe bhi unhe apna time dena chahiye, na. I feel this is my responsibility. Agar main saamne hoon aur time na doon toh woh galat ho jayega.”

With everything that she does becoming a news story, we ask her if she ever feels overwhelmed by it. She replies, “I am enjoying the moment. Yahi cheez thi, jiske liye main pehle taras rahi thi... ki main kuch banun, ki main kuch aisa karun ki log mujhe dekhein, pasand karein. Tumko har koi toh pasand nahi kar sakta, toh theek hai. Main kuch logon ki favourite list mein hoon, kuch ki nahi. Kya hi problem hai. Jo pyaar karte hain udhar focus karo. It doesn’t bother me.”

Talking about her viral videos, she says, “Socho ke jo log bolte thay ki mujhe bolna nahi aata, mujhe baat nahi karni aati, iska accent kaisa hai... haste thay log. Toh aaj meri wahi strengthban gayi, na? Toh mujhe lagta hai kisi ka mazak nahi udhana chahiye. Aaj mere one-liners pe log video banate hain. But it does not go to my head, because I know main aaj yahan hoon, kal ko kuch bhi ho sakta hai mere saath.” 

She adds, “I will never change. Agar yeh change kardiya maine, toh Shehnaaz Gill mein akad aajayegi na, mujhe down-to-earth rehna hai. Mujhe pata hai life mein kabhi bhi koi paasa palat sakta hai.”

While there are reports of her signing up for Salman Khan’s upcoming film Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali, the actress — who was last seen in the Punjabi film, Honsla Rakh — is yet to comment on them. She tells us, “Mera bas focus hai, jo bhi aaye, achcha aaye but my dreams are big. Acting karni hai, brand ambassador banna hai. Singing bhi karni hai, par pehle acting karni hai.”

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The special auditorium at the BKC property

Cinemas are finally back in action today. Where the exhibitors are heaving a sigh of relief, it’s not lost on them either that content alone will no longer be able to lure people back to the movies. Two days before the reopening of theatres in Maharashtra, we paid a visit to PVR’s new luxury property in Bandra Kurla Complex. With this endeavour, Gautam Dutta, CEO, PVR, hopes to start a new concept in movie-viewing — one that he describes as “movie-cation”. What does that entail, you ask? Private screening rooms called The Loft, artisanal coffee, menus curated by chefs from five-star hotels, an elaborate sushi section, and vegan desserts handcrafted by Parisian patisseries.

Clearly, theatre owners are amping up their game to ensure they don’t lose out in the race against OTT platforms. But we’ll get to that later. When we begin our conversation with Dutta, the obvious question is: How did cinemas survive the past one-and-a-half years? “We knew we would bounce back. People had said movie halls will shut down when the Indian Premier League started, and when piracy [hit the industry]. Now they say the same because of the OTT [boom]. Over the past 18 months, we saw severe salary cuts, but we didn’t lay off people. We raised money through capital, equity and loans. Our leaders liquidated assets, but better days were bound to come,” states Dutta.

Many filmmakers expressed solidarity with exhibitors by holding off the release of their movies. The line-up ahead is impressive, with Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, Shahid Kapoor’s Jersey, Ayushmann Khurrana’s Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Ranveer Singh’s '83 and many more awaiting their turn at the marquee. On their part, the theatre owners are pulling out new tricks from their bags.  

“We’re no longer in the business of showing movies. We wanted this property to be like a seven-star hotel, where people can [come and rejuvenate].”

Pricing could be a matter of concern, at a time when the spending power of people is probably at an all-time low. He counters that, saying, “We will have schemes and introductory offers to lure people back. When we started gold class and recliners, people said nobody would pay for those. Even now, those are the first seats to go. Property investments essentially are for posterity. We have a long-term vision of expanding the experience.”

Four biggies are lined up for the first week — Daniel Craig’s No Time to Die, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Dune and Bellbottom. All eyes though are on Kumar’s cop caper that will hit the screens on Diwali. “The whole circuit will [hopefully] come alive, like the Punjab market did with Diljit Dosanjh’s Honsla Rakh. The market is registering better numbers than what it did pre-pandemic.”

The coming months will determine whether the measures will be enough to draw audiences, who are now accustomed to having movies only a click away. Surprisingly though, Dutta doesn’t view OTT entertainment as its competitor. “People who consume more OTT, consume more cinema. Data proves there is co-relation. We [function] as parallels, and not as one versus the other. That said, filmmakers want their movies to open on the big screen.”

Not long ago, some cinema chains were in conversation with Netflix and Amazon to bring OTT content to the big screen. “We felt we could host special screenings of pilots and finales. But to have 10-hour binge-athons felt too laborious. The length of the episodes is the roadblock. Hopefully, that will happen in the near future. Shershaah, after all, premiered at Chanakya in Delhi.”

Dutta is hopeful that the earlier routine of Fridays will return. Sharing an analogy, he says, “I put on weight every time I eat sweets. So I ask my wife not to bring sweets home. Movies are just like that box of sweets. Mithai ka dabba kholne ki deri hai.”