Patralekhaa’s first day of shoot on the sets of Citylights (May 30) was hardly a celebratory one. “I got bombarded by Hansal Mehta (director) in front of everyone. He shouted at me incessantly for botching up and everyone saw me sobbing away,” says the actress with glee. “I am happy, only in hindsight of course. It helped me break the ice with my director else I was supremely nervous of working with him and Rajkumarr (Rao, lead actor and also her boyfriend). After that incident, I realised that nothing could be worse than that and dropped my inhibitions. Every actor has that moment.” Patralekhaa, earlier referred to as Anwita Paul, is making her debut in this film presented by Fox Star Studios and Vishesh Films’ (Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt) and directed by Hansal Mehta, fresh off Shahid .
Citylights is a remake of the BAFTA-nominated 2013 British-Filipino crime drama Metro Manila . “Hansal specifically told us to keep away from watching it. So aside from the writer, none of us, not even Hansal, has seen Metro Manila yet. He said we should adapt the film in our own way and not get influenced. Possibly after I watch Citylights , I will watch the original!” says Patralekhaa. The film revolves around Deepak Singh and his wife Rakhee who are farm labourers in Rajasthan. Faced by a financial crisis when the couple moves to Mumbai with their young son, the perils of a big city strike them. “My character (Rakhee) is apprehensive about moving to Mumbai unlike her husband who is more enthusiastic. But once here she does not play the docile, demure wife standing behind her husband as one would expect a villager to do. She is the strength, she becomes the bread earner of the family,” says Patralekhaa.
Working with Hansal has been a big achievement in her life, says the actress. “People who have been working for a long time — Manav Kaul (playing the antagonist) and Rajkumarr — had told me that not only is he a great director but also a fabulous person to know. Hansal is family to me in Mumbai. I come from Shillong and am by myself otherwise in this city.”
The actress, whose father is a CA and mother, a housewife, says she does not come from a family inclined towards the arts except for her grandmother who was a poet and had gifted her the beautiful name. “That’s why I took it up as my screen name, not because anyone told me to change from Anwita to escape getting recognised as Rajkumarr’s girlfriend!” she speaks candidly about the finger-pointing happening due to their relationship. How does she deal with those conspiracy theories suggesting that she got the movie only because Rajkumarr and Hansal share a good equation? “The moment I got the film, I knew that these questions would come my way. See, Raj and I have been around for three years now. If merely by putting in a word, I’d get roles, then I would have bagged Kai Po Che and Shahid as well, right?” she asks, stating that her first audition for the film happened when Ajay Bahl ( B.A. Pass ) was to helm the film. “Months after that, Hansal came in and I was called to audition once more. Then another one. The final audition was the most nerve-wracking as by then, I just wanted the role and didn’t know whether I would get it,” she recollects.
The non-glam role doesn’t have Patralekhaa concerned about her future in films. “I never had any set notions about how I should be presented in my debut film. Moreover, it wasn’t as if I have a lot of choice at hand. I am grabbing whatever roles I get and hoping they are as good as the one in Citylights !”
