A praiseworthy debut in a small film Madholal Keep Walking , winning the best supporting actress award in her much-acclaimed second film Tanu Weds Manu , and now playing the lead with two veteran actors — Deepti Naval and Farooque Sheikh in Listen…Amaya , Swara Bhaskar is certainly happy with her career graph. “I am keeping my fingers crossed; I have five releases this year! There is YashRaj Films’ Aurangzeb directed by Atul Sabharwal in May and Aanand Rai's (director of Tanu Weds Manu ) Raanjhanaa in June-end. Later in the year I will shoot for Anirudhh Chawla’s Sabki Bajegi Band and Machhli Jal Ki Rani Hai directed by Debaloy De,” she says with obvious enthusiasm.
Listen…Amaya is a story of a single mother and her daughter and their special relationship that suffers due to the arrival of a man in the mother’s life. Talking about her character, Swara says, “Amaya was an interesting and challenging character to play because it has shades of grey. Amaya is a young, confident, urban-bred girl. She is a bit of a spoilt brat, but warm and loving. She is used to her mother’s undivided love and attention. She is also headstrong and possessive and has a definite opinion on everything. I would joke with Avinash and Geeta (directors of the film) that Amaya is actually the villain of the film. Bringing out her vulnerability was a challenge for me.”
It’s a non-formulaic film but Swara says she’s only too happy to do her part. “I don’t much believe in categories. Doing my first solo lead with iconic actors such as Deepti Naval and Farooque Sheikh in their comeback film as an onscreen couple after 28 years, is certainly a dream come true! This film is their love story. It was fun working with them. We would do our lines and discuss scenes, laugh and joke and we even improvised quite a bit. They both are effortless in front of the camera; their performance is convincing and intense. That’s a great lesson to learn and the toughest thing to achieve for an actor,” she says. The youngster is also excited about the variety her upcoming films offer. “In Raanjhanaa , I play a character called Bindiya. It’s a fun role beautifully etched out by writer Himanshu Sharma. In Aurangzeb , I play Prithviraj Sukumaran’s wife. I am a possessed girl in Machhli Jal Ki Rani Hai and that was a huge challenge because I never watch horror movies! During the shoot I used to be scared to even go for a shower at night in the hotel. My film Sabki Bajegi Band is a comedy about relationships.”
Swara feels this is a great time for actors to be in the film industry. There are all kinds of films being made and different kinds of roles being written. So there’s scope for everyone. “Also I think notions of beauty and looks have changed,” she smiles.
