‘An instant connect with the character’

Sonakshi Sinha talks about Noor’s central character and what she understands about journalism

April 18, 2017 08:09 pm | Updated 09:10 pm IST

Dressed in trendy ripped jeans, T-shirt and an embellished jacket, Sonakshi Sinha is all gung-ho about her upcoming movie, Noor, where she plays the titular role of Noor Roy Chaudhary, a Mumbai journalist. The movie is based on the book Karachi, You're Killing Me! by Saba Imtiaz which Sinha calls a “nice and breezy read”. But what changes did the flip in the cities bring in to the film? “The situations Ayesha went through in Karachi [from the book]… Noor can’t go through in Mumbai. So we have adapted the situations to suit the Mumbai city and how she manoeuvres her way through life over here,” explains Sinha.

Being Noor

A self-confessed slow reader, Sinha claims to have devoured Imtiaz’s book at a go. Other than the entertaining plot, she was engrossed by the characters, specially the protagonist. “All her [Ayesha] experiences; her coming of age, finding herself in this chase for perfection and when she finally understands it is okay to be imperfect. It is okay to embrace imperfections and [it’s] then [that] she finds true happiness.”

The 29-year-old found it refreshing to play the girl-next-door. Recounting her first day of shoot at the R.K. Studios in Chembur she says, “All I had to wear was a simple T-shirt and shorts and shoot the scene.” On many occasions director Sunhil Sippy just sent her to face the camera without makeup and she found it a joyful and stimulating experience to, “not getting dolled-up, to just go and be yourself on screen.”

 

What does she thinks about journalism as a profession? Pat comes the reply: “I learnt that it is a thankless job. It’s a very demanding profession; involves a lot of hard work and struggle.” Sinha elaborates on the life of a journalist in terms of finding a story, filing it, respecting deadlines, bosses and competition. She points out the dilemmas faced by Noor regarding work ethics and surviving competition. Even in the current times of sensationalism, there are few people who would stop and introspect before taking the next step. “Everybody reaches a stage when they take a deep breath and question themselves. Even Noor is undergoing a similar situation when she wonders if she is doing the right thing,” she says.

No labels

The film boasts a young, fresh cast with Kanan Gill, Shibani Dandekar and Purab Kohli giving Sinha company. She smiles looking back at the fun-filled atmosphere on the set and how the actors fit so seamlessly into their respective characters. “Shibani was exactly like Zara, Kanan is exactly like Saad, Purab is… okay he might not exactly be like Aayan [you will find out why]. When you see the film, you would not be able to imagine anybody else playing these characters,” she says.

Refusing to label Noor as a women-centric film; she says, “We need to stop labelling films, because a film is a film. A doctor is a doctor or a journalist is a journalist whether man or a woman. Similarly we are actors, our job is to act and do films. So a film is a film, irrespective of the gender of the protagonist, in the film.”

As for her choice of films, the actor says, “I want to do roles that challenge me or push me to my limits and stimulate my mind to be able to portray that character to the best of my ability.” Her recent releases like Akira, Force 2 and Noor have seen her play diverse roles from a RAW agent to a journalist. “All this is very interesting. It keeps my mind in motion and really satisfies me as an actor,” she says. No wonder she signs off on an optimistic note, happy about the positive response her look and her debut track for Noor , ‘Move your lakk’ (in collaboration with Diljit Dosanjh & Badshah) have received over the weeks.

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