Deepika Padukone plays Alisha Khanna, who is grappling with childhood trauma, in Gehraiyaan
As Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, and Dhairya Karwa starrer ‘Gehraiyaan’ recently hit Amazon Prime Video, the cast can’t seem to control their excitement. In the latest Filmfare issue, the four stars talk about their individual experiences while shooting and what made them play each part with such grace and flawlessness.
The movie revolves around Alisha Khanna (Deepika Padukone), a 30-year-old yoga instructor, who’s in a six-year-long relationship with Karan Arora (Dhairya Karwa). Karan has quit his lucrative job in advertising and is struggling to become a writer. Then, there’s Zain Siddiqui (Siddhant Chaturvedi), a real estate developer who’s engaged to Alisha’s cousin Tia Khanna (Ananya Panday). Alisha and Zain start an affair and life’s never the same again for them all. However, Gehraiyaan is more than just a story about infidelity. Director Shakun Batra has dwelled on the larger picture of strained relations, dysfunctional families and how childhood trauma leaves everlasting scars.
Drawn to Shakun Batra’s films that are real, raw and relatable, Deepika Padukone always wanted to work with the director, says she, “It was a character I had never played before. One we’ve never seen in Indian cinema before; flawed, human and relatable.” She feels humanising Alisha Khanna, infusing empathy and to portray her sans the lens of judgement, was the most challenging and exciting part for her as an artiste. “I also had the opportunity to get to know Shakun at a personal level before he offered me the film.” With her first time OTT release, Deepika Padukone’s excitement and anticipation has been beyond overwhelming.
The stars spoke in length about their individual experiences while shooting the film and how they overcame some of the challenges. Dhairya Karwa says, “The script is such that when you go through it, you look forward to playing certain scenes. I would just let the clutter out and focus on my co-actors.” Ananya Pandey feels pretty close to her character Tia. She adds, “I didn’t feel that way during the course of the narration. I realised it when going into the scenes and that’s why I had to go more inward when it came to this character.” While sharing the story of his real-life heartbreak, Siddhant Chaturvedi adds, “I was with this girl for four years but we wanted different things in life so that didn’t go well. That was really heartbreaking because I had to choose between love and ambition.”
Gehraiyaan released on February 11, 2022 on Amazon Prime Video. Read Filmfare’s latest issue to know more about the film and what the lead stars Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Pandey and Dhairya Karwa felt while essaying their characters. Copy available now on newsstands and Magzter.
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