Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt has revealed that she looked to Sanam Saeed’s character Kashaf for inspiration when preparing for her latest film, a pre-partition drama called Kalank.
Pakistani dramas – Humsafar and Zindagi Gulzar Hai(ZGH) – gained roaring success across the border. While the former serial made Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan household names in India, the latter inspired many through its ever-lasting characters. Well… now it seems ZGH was a source of insight for actors and directors as well.
Alia Bhatt, one of the most impressive Bollywood actresses is experimental with her roles. This time, the 26-year-old actress will be seen in a period drama for the first time among many other A-listed actors.
Being the first of its kind role for the actress, it was tricky to prepare for Roop as Alia says. To prepare for her look and diction in the pre-Partition drama “Kalank”, actor Alia Bhatt turned to classic films such as “Mughal-E-Azam”, “Umrao Jaan” and hit Pakistani drama “Zindagi Gulzar Hai”.
Alia said her director, Abhishek Varman told her to watch the show, which featured her “Kapoor & Sons” co-star Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed. “I watched a lot of old films like ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ and ‘Umrao Jaan’ to get an understanding of grace and body language. (And) I had to clean my Hindi as I am speaking Urdu (in the film). Abhishek asked me to watch ‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai’. The character of the girl in the show is very much how Roop will deal with the situation.
The film has an ensemble cast that also includes Varun Dhawan, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditya Roy Kapur and Kunal Kemmu.
Alia said working on a multistarrer like “Kalank” was a learning experience for her.
=”I was excited to be a part of this film as I (thought I) would get an opportunity to work with so many different actors and I would pick something up from everybody.
“I used to chat with Sanju sir and talk about my dad (Mahesh Bhatt) and with Madhuri ma’am about diet. With Sonakshi, we used to talk about random things and Aditya was very quiet initially. He opened up later.”
The film is set to be released on April 17.
