Adah Sharma is filming at a house in the outskirts of Hyderabad for a new, untitled Telugu film directed by newcomers Varma and Prasad, who have chosen the collaborative screen name ‘Vipra’. The telephone connection is patchy but we manage to talk over a few calls and voice notes.
“A large portion of this film involves just me, though there are a few other actors in the project. That was one of the reasons I agreed to shoot immediately. It’s not a film that has song and dance where we will need to shoot with many people,” says Adah, during a break on set.
The film, being produced by Gouri Krishna, was launched earlier this week, and all that Adah reveals is that it is nothing like she has done before. She has also signed another Telugu film, the details of which will be revealed later by the production house.
For the film directed by Vipra, plans are on to shoot some portions in a forest zone. “The location is still being finalised; I’m looking forward to it,” says Adah.
She is getting acclimated to going back to shoot with all the COVID-19 precautions: “It is tough, to be honest,” she admits, adding, “I need to keep track of many things, apart from the actual part of enacting the scene and remembering the dialogues. I’m conscious of costume continuity, hair and make-up... In addition, I have to constantly remind myself to maintain social distancing on set. I wear my face shield when not in front of the camera. However, it feels great to return to work.”
She hopes that her regular workouts and adherence to a healthy lifestyle will help her tide through this phase with good immunity. During the lockdown, she continued her workouts and spent time playing the piano.
In the pipeline is also director Abir Sengupta’s Hindi film Man to Man , where she plays a male character: “I try to choose something new with each film. I was fortunate to début with an unconventional film such as 1920 (Hindi). Since then, it has been accepted that Adah would do something out of the norm and luckily, I have a loyal fan base that watches my films and questions me when I do something ordinary.”
In Telugu, she says Kshanam “was a clutter breaker”. Adah mentions that even in a conventional mainstream film such as Heart Attack , she bagged a role that had scope for performance.
Many of her posts on Instagram (@adah_ki_adah) reveal her fun side and the actor says it is closest to her real self. She is either celebrating ‘100 years of Adah Sharma’ (her debut film 1920 to the year 2020) or doing a satire on star kids and nepotism through Radha Sharma (@adah_ki_radha), the cat with a single expression!
Asked for Radha’s take on the raging debate on nepotism, Adah, who is the spokesperson for Radha, emphasises, “Radha has a verified account and her follower count is rising. Radha maintains that it’s only because of her talent; not nepotism. What is nepotism? There’s no nepotism.”
Has anyone offered Adah a complete comic role?
“I am waiting for something like that,” says the actor. But she treasures her Bhavana Reddy character from Commando 3 . “In an action franchise, the girl is usually a damsel in distress. Bhavana poked fun at the big guys, took them on by throwing punches and back-flips. I thought that was cool.”
Published - July 30, 2020 03:44 pm IST
