Gehraiyaan star Deepika Padukone says she didn’t think she could be more real than Piku. Interview

Deepika Padukone has mastered the art of showcasing the various facets of love and loss on screen. We have seen her as the fiesty Veronica in Cocktail to the heartbroken Tara who tries to piece together her failing relationship in Tamasha. In Shakun Batra’s upcoming film Gehraiyaan, we will get to see Deepika dive deep and discover the most raw and vulnerable aspects of her own personality.

In an exclusive interaction with IndiaToday.in, Deepika Padukone spoke about how she approached the complex character of Alisha, what’s special about Gehraiyaan, and more.

‘I UNDERSTAND WHY ALISHA FEELS STUCK IN LIFE IN GEHRAIYAAN’

The trailer of Gehraiyaan opens with Deepika Padukone saying that she is feeling stuck and doesn’t like being at home. When asked about the mindset she was in during the making of the film, Deepika said, “Well, I think that the line is also a metaphor for what she is feeling in her life. As much as it is about what she is feeling physically, it also shows how stuck she is feeling in her mind, just based on where she is in her life at that point. I understand that.”

She added, “Literally I am someone who loves being at home. So, I don’t think I’d ever say that line. I never feel stuck at home. But I understand the metaphoric part of it which is when you just feel stuck and that is really where Alisha’s thought process is coming from. It is just stuck based on what she has been through, where she is and also the kind of life that she would like to have. It is a little bit of that that was going on in my head at that point in the scene.”

‘I GAVE MY ALL TO GEHRAIYAAN - EMOTIONALLY, MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY’

Revisiting her earlier characters that she could relate to, Deepika revealed what she discovered about herself during the making of Gehraiyaan. She said, “What I discovered is that each of these characters - despite their commonality - are also very different from each other. The closest reference probably being Veronica, but still, if I had to sit today with my notes on her and those on Alisha, they would be completely different. Yet, in the audience’s mind, it is like the closest reference. But when you see the film, you will realise it is completely different.”

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Deepika continued, “I didn’t think that I could be more real than Piku or rawer than Veronica, but with this film, I have been fortunate to work with a director who has pushed me. I think I have been a lot more vulnerable than I have probably been before and a lot more raw and honest. Not to say the other characters have not been that, but maybe to a slightly lesser degree. And, this is probably the most that I have ever done. So, it really comes from a very deep place. You have got to dig deep and I think that is where it has come from. By default, it just becomes one of those films where you have given your all - emotionally, mentally and physically. I guess that is how this is different from everything else that I have learned.”