Showing posts with label Sanjana Sanghi interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sanjana Sanghi interview. Show all posts
If you walk into my house, it will be very hard for you to spot something that is plastic-Sanjana Sanghi
7:48 AM
Divya Kaushik (BOMBAY TIMES; June 7, 2024)
Sanjana Sanghi reunited with her Dhak Dhak co-actor Dia Mirza in Delhi to shoot a short video on ecosystem restoration. Sanjana, who is the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India Youth Champion, joined Dia, who is the UN Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassador, to mark World Environment Day on June 5. Sanjana took some time after the shoot for a brief chat with us talking about adopting a sustainable lifestyle.
‘Working outdoors in this heat can take a toll on the health’
Shooting in the sweltering Delhi heat reminded Sanjana of her Dhak Dhak shoot schedule. She says, “It was peak summer, and we were shooting somewhere in Uttar Pradesh on bikes. It was really tough as we were riding along a highway.”
Talking about climate extremes and how challenging it is to work outdoors, she adds, “Working outdoors in the heat can take a toll on the physical health. Our bodies are not used to 50-degree temperatures outdoors, and one can suffer a heatstroke. I am drinking more electrolytes and salts than I ever did. If I am outside for a while, I try not to get into an air-conditioned room immediately after, and I avoid icy cold water.”
‘My one main grief is that we are not taught about adopting sustainable practices in school’
The actress shares that she has introduced small changes in her daily life to adopt sustainability. “One major change that I have introduced in life is to avoid plastic. If you walk into my house, it will be very hard for you to spot something that is plastic. I carry my own bottle so that I don’t pick up a new water bottle every time I am travelling. As actors we do have to eat at different places, and I have this small eco-friendly cutlery box that I use,” she says.
About working towards youth education and empowerment, the actress says, “When it comes to working towards social change, sometimes it may feel like a small effort, but all efforts count when you are trying to bring about a change.”
She adds, “My one main grief is that we are not taught about adopting sustainable practices in school. As I am working on youth education, I realize that you can’t tell some 18-year-old that they have to shut the shower or tap when not in use or to avoid plastic. These things have to be taught to a toddler. I am thankful to my grandmum as I used to see her being strict about not using plastic. If she saw you using a plastic bag or bottle she would scold you. I never understood it as a kid, but I am grateful now that the lesson is ingrained in me. However, it is not ingrained in our education system.”
‘I have grown up with the habit of upcycling clothes’
About upcycling her clothes, Sanjana says, “Upcycling is an important part for me for living a sustainable life. Luckily when you grow up as a regular middle class girl in India, upcycling is in your veins. We are next level jugaadu when it comes to reusing fabrics. I have grown up with that habit. As an actor, I don’t take the burden of wearing a new outfit every time I step out. If you will put together ten of my papped images you will see me repeating outfits. I just style them differently. All my friends are getting married and I have too many weddings to go to. So I have used my nani’s bandhani saris to make a lehenga or a blouse or kurta. It matters to me not because it is upcycling but because those saris are precious and special to me.”
Main na puri Dilli ki hoon, meri Gurgaon ke liye utni loyalty nahi hai-Sanjana Sanghi
8:24 AM
Divya Kaushik (BOMBAY TIMES; August 1, 2023)
Food, family and her furry pals – that’s what Sanjana Sanghi’s visits to Delhi is all about. During her recent visit to the capital, the actress spoke to us about her favourite hangout spots here, why her heart belongs to the city and the films she has lined up.
‘I miss being with my family and my dogs when I am in Mumbai’
Sanjana says that she keeps looking for opportunities to come to Delhi. “Though I stay in Mumbai for work, my heart lies in Delhi. I try coming to Delhi an evening before I have an event or take a late flight the next day so that I can have dinner with friends and family and see my nana. I am definitely greedy when it comes to spending time in Delhi,” says the Dil Bechara actress.
Talk about Delhi food, and Sanjana says that her favourite memories from her school and college days are all about food. “During my recent visit to the capital, I was at Lodhi Road, which used to be my regular hangout spot when I was in Modern School, Barakhamba Road. Every day after school, we used to drive to Khan Market and get burgers and cold drinks. I went to Lady Shri Ram College, and Amar Colony, which is at a stone’s throw distance from the college, has the best chur-chur naan (from the outlet under the Moolchand flyover). We used to also gorge on tandoori momos from Amar Colony Market. I haven’t explored Gurgaon that much when it comes to food. To be honest, main na puri Dilli ki hoon, meri Gurgaon ke liye utni loyalty nahi hai. Though I have visited Cyber Hub and One Horizon Center, the feeling is not the same as walking around in Khan Market or Connaught Place.”
It’s a busy year for Sanjana
The actress is gearing up for the release of her two films and says that this will be the busiest year for her. “I just finished shooting for my next film Kadak Singh which is a father-daughter drama with Pankaj Tripathi. The other film Dhak Dhak is also ready for release. It is a story of four women riding bikes from Delhi to Ladakh. Both these films will release in the next couple of months,” says Sanjana, adding that for actors like her, there are a lot of opportunities today, but one has to deal with a lot of uncertainty.
It bothered me when the first look of Rashtra Kavach OM only featured Aditya Roy Kapur-Sanjana Sanghi
8:20 AM
Noting that Hindi cinema has a dearth of female-led actioners, Sanjana Sanghi says it was a conscious decision to pull off the gritty role in Om
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; June 22, 2022)
Hindi cinema has rarely had a slick woman-led action film. Among the few times that it has been attempted, the women have been sexualised in femme fatale avatars, complete with leather outfits. When Sanjana Sanghi stepped into the universe of Rashtra Kavach OM, she partly expected a similar tonality. The actor was pleased to see that director Kapil Verma had a different vision for his actioner.
“I can’t deny that historically, we have seen very few leading ladies do action. This is only my second film. I can’t deny the trappings that exist. I didn’t have any reference points for the film. I had to turn to Hollywood and look at Scarlett Johansson. This is what made the film more interesting. Kavya, my character, is a full person. In a testosterone driven world, she is an anomaly. She is leading the pack here. The script gave me the responsibility inherently, and I built from there. I didn’t feel the desire to do bigger stunts to feel more important in the story. My director Kapil Verma mounted the story in such a way that the female perspective is important,” she says.
Even as leading ladies are getting meatier roles, the gender bias is evident in the smallest of instances. The first look of Om featured only leading man Aditya Roy Kapur, with no sign of Sanghi. “Of course, it bothered me, and I told Ahmed sir [Khan, producer] I need to be in it. We launched a new poster with the trailer,” she states.
Om marks her second film after her debut vehicle, Dil Bechara (2020). Preparing for the role was challenging, she admits. “I trained with Parvez Shaikh [action choreographer] and his team. I learnt hand-to-hand combat, weapon use and underwent gun training. Aditya and I learnt [to handle] pistols, M16 and different kinds of rifles. I learnt how many bullets go into what, how to empty out the guns. What helped was having Adi by my side. He held my hand and walked me through it. Just knowing he was there to catch me, if I fall from a harness was the kind of comfort that made my performance better.”
From fronting a love story in Dil Bechara to an actioner, there is a paradigm shift. Sanghi insists it’s a conscious move. “There are false notions about action. I know that I have kicked ass in the film. I want young girls to know that you got you. You don’t need a man for protection. That’s [the confidence] a woman doing action on the big screen evokes.”
The actor is currently shooting for Dhak Dhak, which also stars Ratna Pathak Shah, Dia Mirza, Fatima Sana Shaikh and is produced by Taapsee Pannu. She is glad that the film asserts the conversation around sisterhood. “A film like that asserts the conversation around sisterhood. I choose films based on what it makes me believe. When Taapsee sent me the script, I read it in a day and called her to say I am doing it. I didn’t know who else was in the movie. The eclectic cast is a win-win for us. In Tapsee, I have found a guide and a friend, a sounding board I could seek advice from. To have such secure, skilled actors coming together is beautiful. Every scene is a new visual because we haven’t seen four women riding an Enfield bike as a visual in Hindi films. When we think of a bullet, we think of a boy! But I guess women across generations in the industry are willing to go all out and risk it,” she says.
As a public figure, I can’t be on dating apps and will always be devoid of that personal experience-Sanjana Sanghi
8:30 AM
Sanjana on the joy of fronting a love story in Uljhe Hue and embracing a character she didn’t fully identify with
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; February 13, 2022)
After Dil Bechara (2020), Sanjana Sanghi is ready to tell another story about young love. That said, the two worlds couldn’t be further apart from one another. Where her debut film showed the power of young love in the face of death, her latest offering—Uljhe Hue—chronicles the modern dating scene.
Admitting that she didn’t fully identify with her character who hopes to find love on a dating app, Sanghi says, “[My character] wasn’t entirely relatable to me. [Personally], I am a bit old-school. I need to know someone organically and spend a lot of time with [them] to [know that I want] to be with [them]. But I have seen a lot of my friends who have got married or engaged [after meeting on] dating apps. So, I believe in the good these apps can do. As a public figure, I can’t be on them and will always be devoid of that personal experience.”
The Amazon Prime mini-series revolves around Sanghi’s Rasika, an introverted visual artist who bumps into Varun—essayed by Abhay Verma—after being stood up on a date. The short film is directed by Satish Raj Kasireddi.
How was it to dive into a feel-good love story after the intense portrayal in Dil Bechara? “The world of Dil Bechara was so complex. As a character, I submitted to Kizie for two years of my life. Here, to create a new person and jump into her world is a new high. It gives you the faith that if you push yourself, you can get into the skin of a new character,” she says.
As much as she loves the genre of romantic dramas, the actor points out that they are no walk in the park. “You feel responsible at every step in every story that you tell as an actor. Over time, I have realised that [what actors] say and do, does have a long-lasting impact on the [audience’s] minds.”
I can’t believe I am turning 25, started as a child actor-Sanjana Sanghi
5:11 AM
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; September 2, 2021)
Sanjana Sanghi is back to work, and recently shot action scenes in Russia for her next, OM: The Battle Within. She sounds excited when she tells us that the audience will get to see “a new side” to her. “It was satisfying to shoot, in the sense that you could go ahead and do that with all precautions. Also, what we filmed there was very exciting for me as an actor. I’ve been prepping for the sequence for a while now, and to finally do that was creatively very exciting,” says the actor, who turns 25 today.
Sanghi says she takes her birthdays seriously, and expects the same from her loved ones. “It has always been a grand celebration. In school, it used to be in the middle of our half-yearly exams, but I’d still have a party... I love getting everyone in my life together. Last year was the first time I couldn’t do that, but my closest friends came outside my gate and sang happy birthday,” she recalls fondly.
This year, she plans to ring in her birthday in Maldives with her close friends. We talk to her before she has taken off, so she has jitters amid the pandemic. “I just wanted to zoom out a bit, take notice of where’s one at and where life is. A little bit of the ocean and nice sunsets could do that,” says the actor, who debuted as a lead in 2020’s Dil Bechara.
Exclaiming that she finds it surreal that she’s hit the “big 25th”, she says, “I’ve been the younger sibling, the little one at home. In the industry, I started off as a child actor (in Rockstar; 2011)... When I look back, there is so much growth, experiences that have added to the person I am now. I can’t believe I’m turning 25! Maybe once I cut the cake, it’ll sink in.”
The one thing Sushant Singh Rajput taught me was to save my energy-Sanjana Sanghi
8:32 AM
A year after the film’s release, the actress recalls memories from the process of making the movie, which was also Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film
Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; July 24, 2021)
After playing supporting roles in films like Rockstar, Hindi Medium and Fukrey Returns, Sanjana Sanghi stepped into the lead space with Dil Bechara. The film wasn’t the typical Bollywood launchpad for the actress, but it rolled out a platform for her to step on and show her acting skills from the start. A year down, Sanjana recalls the time when the film released amidst the furore over her costar Sushant Singh Rajput’s sudden death. From the bond that she shared with the actor, how he taught her about ‘rationing’ her energy, to how her experiences of playing Kizie Basu left her feeling more equipped as a performer — she shares it all. Read on…
After playing supporting roles in a few films, you featured as the lead actress in Dil Bechara. The project was far from the conventional launchpad that most Bollywood actresses would look for. What drew you towards the part?
Honestly, you dream big, but you also want to manage your hopes and expectations. When I came to Mumbai, I had to navigate through everything myself, and there was no roadmap for me. One can dream of getting launched with a traditional project where the heroine gets to look glamourous, but here, I was in hair that wasn’t blow-dried and sported a no make-up look. This project had its own perks though.
I still remember the afternoon when I got a call for Dil Bechara, which is the Hindi remake of the Hollywood film The Fault In Our Stars. When I heard that I was being approached for the part of Hazel Grace Lancaster... I can never forget the feeling of blood flowing through my body. This opportunity surpassed all my dreams. When I was a teenager, I had read that book by John Green over 10 times. What A R Rahman sir did with the music and Sushant did with the dialogues made the movie bigger than a dream.
In your first project as a female lead, you essayed the part of a young girl battling cancer. Given the fact that you don’t have as much experience as an actor, was it tough to get in and out of the mould of your character?
Kizie Basu took over my life for two-and-a-half years. I let the director hold my hand and introduce me to the world of my character. At the age of 21, I dealt with the topics of strength, mortality and what it was like to battle an illness. Kizie wounded and healed me. Over a period of time, I had started to feel comfortable as Kizie. By the time we started shooting, the character had enveloped me completely. It was only when the project got over that I pushed myself to move on. I now know how demanding a leading actor’s job can be and what it means to be committed to a project. As an actor, today, I feel far more equipped.
What was your first meeting with Sushant like? How did you break the ice?
We met for the first time at Mukesh (Chhabra, director) sir’s office, where we did our reading. Within five minutes of the meeting, we realised that we both are nerds, are obsessed with everything academic and lived for the love of food! The other common point of interest was Delhi. While I hailed from Delhi, he had studied there. The performances you see in the film are all because of teamwork as it’s a completely performance-oriented movie. It didn’t boast of any fancy song sequences or stunts, but relied on human emotions and relationships. The one thing Sushant taught me was to save my energy. He made me realise how important it was to conserve energy by not putting in all of it when not required, for instance, the wide-angle shots. He used to call it ‘rationing’ of the energy.
While the film will always be special to you, it didn’t release under the circumstance that you would have desired, owing to Sushant’s sudden death. Do you think it got the attention it deserved for the right reasons?
It was all supposed to be different, right? Like, all of it! But once everything just changed the way it did... there was no looking back. The day the film released, it created records with millions of people watching the movie on the first day. That’s an unreal number. With the kind of love and respect the film got, how can I have any regrets? It was quite an ode. Sushant and I were excited about the project through its making. We would discuss which colleges we would be visiting to promote the film. We even thought of the songs from the film that we planned to croon during the promotions and wondered whether we would be able to revisit the theatre in Jamshedpur where we shot the film.
Even though Kizzie Basu is very far from a female action lead, Ahmed Khan felt he saw something-Sanjana Sanghi
7:46 AM
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 20, 2021)
Actor Sanjana Sanghi’s Bollywood journey as a lead actor kicked off in 2020 with Dil Bechara, which ranked among the most-watched films on OTT. And now, she’s already shooting for her second, Om, an action thriller, alongside Aditya Roy Kapur.
She feels it’s been ‘wonderful’ so far. “Since Rockstar (2011) when I was a child actor, we are audition actors. Be it just an ad or a small part in a film, you would get an audition call. You would then try and give your best in that room. When it wouldn’t work out, you won’t get a call back. Coming from there, to people seeing my work in Dil Bechara…the filmmaker I dreamt of collaborating with, saying they desire to work with me has been amazing. It’s been special,” says the 24-year-old.
Making the right choices, she adds, is tough. Which is why she was careful about which project she took up as her second film. It was Om’s director Ahmed Khan who called her up after watching Dil Bechara. “I found the journey of this one very exciting, because you are in a place where you are able to choose the genre. What was really at the back of my mind is that it has to be different from my first film, and it will really push me as an actor. The fans who are generous with their love, it was great for them too. I was kind of taking my time to lock in my second film. I got a call from Ahmed sir, who told me he’s making this massive action thriller with Adi. He said even though Kizzie Basu is very far from a female action lead, he felt he saw something,” Sanghi says with a laugh.
After she came on board the film, the team started shooting right amid the Coronavirus pandemic, in October 2020. And Sanghi admits that she did feel ‘really scared’ while shooting. “It (the pandemic) was peaking at that time, but what we realised two months down into filming, is that once the bubble got created and we got used to precautions, they became a part of our day. As actors, you are the only ones not wearing masks, so that paranoia sticks. After a couple of days, you tend to forget that, you just feel lucky that even in the midst of everything you are able to work and get such a huge film going,” she adds.
Working with Aditya Roy Kapur made me feel liberated-Sanjana Sanghi
8:25 AM
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; February 28, 2021)
Recently, Sanjana Sanghi wrapped up another schedule of her upcoming action film, OM: The Battle Within, which has her opposite Aditya Roy Kapur. Directed by action director Tinu Verma’s son, Kapil Verma, the movie has been in production for a few weeks now.
Talking about her experience of collaborating with Aditya and Kapil, Sanjana says, “We talk a lot on the set. We trust and help each other as co-workers. The film has certain elements that are about things which we haven’t seen before. It’s mutual trust between co-stars that comes in handy at such times. There’s no ego between Aditya and me, or between the director and us. Working with Aditya and Kapil sir made me feel liberated. There is no question that I can’t ask and no question that won’t be answered.”
Talking about how 2020 changed her perspective towards life, Sanjana says, “My perspective changed completely. Aditya, Kapil sir and I thank our stars for every second that we get to be on a set, this time feels so valuable. When we started stepping out for work, we were all so rusty. One didn’t know how to be around others because we hadn’t been around people for a long time. Now, while there is fear in our minds, there is also gratitude in our hearts for what we have today.”
Elaborating on how they prepped for their roles in a scenario where they couldn’t conduct workshops, Sanjana says, “We did spend time together, but in a socially distant manner. Adi and I had to train for the action portions as well. So, we would undergo Coronavirus tests every few days. Even on the set, we always followed the precautionary steps. I have realised that when you are careful, you can work around things.”
To me, Ranbir Kapoor defines what an artiste is-Sanjana Sanghi
8:25 AM
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; January 8, 2021)
Sanjana Sanghi might just be one-film-old as a leading lady, but she has been dabbling in acting since her teenage years in school. As a child artiste, she played Nargis Fakhri’s sister Mandy in Rockstar (2011) and was also seen as the younger version of Mita in Hindi Medium (2017). The actress, who made her debut as a leading lady opposite Sushant Singh Rajput in Dil Bechara, is currently filming her second outing with Aditya Roy Kapur.
In a recent chat with BT, Sanjana spoke about people whose artistry inspires her the most. She says, “I am an interview junkie. I love watching interviews and thinking about how and why someone must have said something. One of the actresses who I have closely followed is Anushka Sharma. I have always looked up to her. She does what she thinks is right for her, even in the way she handles her production company. She is inspiring in a big way. I am from Delhi and I know what it is to play a Dilliwali. Anushka captured those nuances well in the film, Band Baaja Baaraat (2010). Not once did I feel that she is not from Delhi and that she has spent most of her growing up years in Bengaluru. After that film, I keep track of everything she did."
The actress considers Ranbir Kapoor the perfect artiste. “He is the first actor I worked with. I look up to him as I have learned so much from him. To me, he, in a way, defines what an artiste is,” she shares, adding, “The biased person in me loves his character Jordan in Rockstar. I have seen the magic unfolding in front of my eyes. It was a mystical experience to see him transform into this character.”
Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has been turned into a circus-Sanjana Sanghi
8:56 AM
Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 23, 2020)
Actor Sanjana Sanghi finds herself in a “weird, numb space” after losing her “partner-in-crime”, actor Sushant Singh Rajput, with whom she stars in the Bollywood remake of the Hollywood film, The Fault In Our Stars (2014).
“It’s not possible for a human being to feel such extremes of both happiness and gratitude for the fact that it’s my debut as a lead coming out. But the grief and shock of losing my partner-in-crime has left me in this weird, numb space. I’m trying to do my best to fulfill my commitments,” says the actor, who is “taking each day as it comes”.
Sanghi, 23, recounts talking to Rajput quite often. She also says everyone was happy with their film getting an OTT release. “You set out to make a theatrical film…You aren’t okay with things, but as humans, you adapt. With this OTT release, we can’t think of a better way to give a tribute to Sushant,” she adds.
Rajput’s demise has stirred numerous debates in the industry. A couple of films have also been announced, inspired by the late actor’s life. Sanghi is, however, saddened seeing all this. “I heard about the way in which my parents grew up, surrounded by far more patience, integrity and honesty than we are now. It really saddens me to see any kind of circus being created out of such a tragedy. I urge people to give time and respect to all of us reeling with this loss,” she asserts.
Rajput’s untimely death also led to speculations that he may have been under pressure or going through depression. Given that she spent a lot of time with him, we ask if she ever felt her co-star was grappling with mental health issues. Sanghi feels she is “nobody to comment” on the matter as she’s not a psychologist, but is quick to add, “I don’t equate being upset on a particular day to being mentally unstable in general. I’m upset on many days. All I know is I was working with a passionate, sincere artiste who’d do his job better than what was expected out of him. He was always there. Maybe if I knew him in deeper personal capacities, I could have answered this.”
When Dil Bechara trailer dropped, I thought Sushant will text me, saying 'You have killed it, rockstar!'-Sanjana Sanghi
8:38 AM
As her debut vehicle, Dil Bechara becomes Sushant Singh Rajput's swansong, Sanjana Sanghi on how she has yet to come to terms with his demise
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; July 21, 2020)
Over the years, the aspiring actor imagined different scenarios as she daydreamed about being launched in Bollywood some day. And yet, as Sanjana Sanghi stands on the threshold of fame today, the reality does not match her dreams. The man who walked her through her first film, Sushant Singh Rajput, is no longer by her side. Sanghi is so used to him cheering her on that on certain days, she picks up her phone, half-expecting a message from the late actor."When the trailer dropped [on July 6], I thought he will text me, saying 'You have killed it, rockstar!' That's what he would say after a good day on the set. I am not even close to coming to terms with what happened. I know it will hit me in two to three months," says Sanghi, remembering her co-star who passed away on June 14.
Now, Dil Bechara — Rajput's swansong and her debut vehicle — is set to premiere on Disney+ Hotstar. She says that sharing her first film with Rajput made the overwhelming journey seem less daunting, exciting even. "In my head, nobody other than Sushant could have played Manny. Both of us were similarly wired — we were crazy about cinema and books, and our perspectives would often align. If I was nervous about a scene, he would notice it, put his arm around me and take me for a walk. During the stroll, he would run me through the scene and I was good to go after that. Honestly, he has set the bar high for my [future] co-actors."
The Mukesh Chhabra-directed venture is the official adaptation of The Fault In Our Stars (2014), which was inspired by John Green's novel of the same name. "When Mukesh told me during the audition that he was adapting the movie, I couldn't believe my luck. They have culturally adapted the script to set the story in Jamshedpur. The theme of the original has been retained, but it has been given a new flavour."
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