Kiara Advani on working with Kartik Aryan in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2: ‘People have already started calling us the two ‘Ks’-Entertainment News , Firstpost

After she catapulted to super stardom with Kabir Singh there is no stopping Kiara Advani; she has finally found a firm foothold in the industry. The Telugu remake minted over Rs 280 crore at the box office followed by war drama Shershaah, which became the most watched movie on an OTT platform. Not to forget the critical acclaim Advani got for her digital debut Lust Stories which became a game-changer for her so much so that she returned to the streamer with gripping mystery Guilty. From her fair share of struggling, rejections and low phase, the actress’s life has taken a 360-degree turn as she is now part of many big projects – Jug Jugg Jeeyo (opposite Varun Dhawan), Mr Lele with Vicky Kaushal, and S Shankar directed RC15, a multilingual, Pan India film with Ramcharan Teja among few others. However, Advani, who believes that celebritydom, fame, success is both, boon and bane, wants to lie low and just enjoy life without making it too “complicated”. Firstpost meets up with the peppy actress for an exclusive chat on her next Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, a horror-comedy (and reboot of Akshay Kumar-Vidya Balan’s 2007 hit) where she is paired with yet another rising star Kartik Aryan.

Both comedy and horror are supposed to be very difficult genres for actors as well as directors. What attracted you to Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 ?

Yes, these are difficult but then all genres are challenging. Sometimes you have certain strengths or certain emotions where you are more comfortable playing those, whereas, there are others where you may want to do a little more homework. What I learnt from the comedies that I did in the recent past and from my co-stars is that you have to be serious in scenes in situational comedies and you have to be true to your character and not try to make it fun. Comedy is rightly called a serious business. Also, the less you rehearse the more spontaneous you are in a comedy. It is all about the timing. All of this came in handy when we were shooting for Bhool Bhulaiyaa.

The thing about horror films, or horror as emotion you evoke actually comes more from the background music and the camera work. If you watch any horror film on mute it will not be scary. So many times I watch horror films by keeping it on mute (laughs) so I don’t get scared. Yes, the get up is scary and you feel it but that element of fear comes when the background music and all of it falls into place. Those are the most thrilling parts to play as an actor. That was different for us. I get really spooked out and I can’t sleep at night so I have never gone to watch horror in a theatre except for Bhool Bhulaiyaa. But this is the kind of film, this is the kind of genre that you can watch with all age groups – children, elderly…It is a family entertainer and everybody can watch it together. I remember watching it with my friends and recall those moments of hysteria, thrill… these are fun elements, these are emotions you evoke in the audience and when it is a collective audience it is all the more fun.

Is there any pressure of playing an already well-established role and filling in big shoes of Vidya Balan who was lauded for her performance in the first one?

People will say that the first one was better…there will be a lot of ifs and buts which you can’t avoid when you are doing a franchise film. Comparisons are inevitable. I was excited about bagging this project because we were making a franchise and people will watch it because they are already associated with the first one. It naturally helps as there is an intrigue factor. As a film it is entertaining, the story is fresh and new, the characters are new. Keeping certain elements alive from the first one to create that nostalgia but as a storyline it is fresh and unique. Also, this one is not a psychological thriller but a horror comedy with a layer of black magic. We all have tried our best to make it as original as we could and yet taken that franchise further.

How is Kartik as a co-star?

What is interesting is that people have already started calling us the two Ks. The industry is very superstitious of this letter ‘K’ and if it works then great. Kartik is wonderful; he is a team player. We belong to the same generation so it makes it easier to work with your co-actor who you can be friends with. There is a lot of give and take which I guess a good rapport is necessary for a genre like this where there is romance, comedy. There is certainly a good camaraderie between us.

There was a time when you said you didn’t know how to fill up a day but now I guess even several hours would not be enough for you..

I don’t know if life has changed so much. It has changed to the extent that I am enjoying the work that I am doing. I am just grateful that I am working on some incredible stories, films with some wonderful people and learning every single day and making the most of it. That is the only way I look at it and don’t want to complicate by thinking too much about it. It still feels the same to me and that is how I would like to leave it. Celebritydom, fame..is both boon and bane.

Would you call Kabir Singh as a turning point in your career?

I think for critics, it was Lust Stories and Guilty where they started seeing me as an actor with potential. With the audience, of course, it was Kabir Singh when I received recognition as an actor.  So, I would say these are the three milestones in my career that people always point out. But if you ask me personally, I feel that in every film that I have done, I have gained something new and every film has given me a chance to learn something new about myself as a person and as an actor.

How do you keep bettering yourself as an actor? How do you keep working on your craft?

Yes, 100 per cent, I definitely keep doing that. I want to keep evolving. My mom pointed out that when she saw me in Kabir Singh and then Shershaah, she found a difference in the way I cried. Both the films had a very intense climax that had a lot for me to deliver. She told me what she really liked, that as an actor you mastered something where you were able to express the same emotion differently. She also felt that I cried the way that the character would and not like how she has seen me cry. Then, as actors one has to also work on voice modulation, linguistic abilities, body language…It is also important to be around people and be observant as an actor. Then, prepping, work shopping, sitting with your director and doing a lot of reading always helps.

Also, from the films that I have done so far, I have realised it is so important not to judge your character that you play. Don’t try to change that because something may be relatable to you and something may not be and that is the character you are playing. So it is important to be in that headspace. There is so much that I can go on and on. Then, of course, I have been thinking that if I get a few months off when I can just take off for a course and try something different. There is no end to learning and gaining knowledge. Before Guilty, I had workshopped a lot with Atul Mongia who I have a great regard for. When I was shooting Jug Jugg Jeeyo, I would see Anil (Kapoor) sir do vocal training despite so many years in the industry. Constantly learning is what keeps you fresh and alive.

It is interesting that you are among these few from this young generation of actors who have already tasted success on the OTT platform, be it films or web series. How does it feel?

I experienced OTT much before it became the rage. With Lust Stories critics discovered the actor in me. Then came Guilty, in March 2020, again there was this critical appreciation I received was insane. Up until then I felt it was a medium where it gets a lot of appreciation and validation as an actor for your performance but I realised with Shershaah coming on OTT, that if your film is good it will reach everybody. Shershaah is probably one of the few, or maybe the only OTT movie that got the kind of love a box office film would. That is when I felt like there was no difference. Today actors have the choice of doing films for OTT or theatres and same goes for the filmmakers. How we used to think until two-and-a-half years back all that has changed. It is blurred; today a film is a film, where it is coming, what platform, what medium, what language, nothing matters.

Considering all these factors, has your choice in selecting scripts changed?

Personally speaking, currently with theatres coming back there is a mind space I am into that I want to do films for a larger family audience. So I know that I want to do theatrical releases, of course, but at the same time there is a hunger as an actor to try something which even I would like to surprise myself, and if I did that I would like to choose where it would be showcased as well. What is made for what audience… The best challenge right now is to do something with a concept in a commercial way. So it is the marriage of concept and commercial that is a true challenge for us. That is to make something which can cater to a five-year-old child, a 70-year-old and also for different stratas of society. The first film that comes to my mind that qualifies is 3 Idiots which is loved universally, is relatable and it is a story told in such a simple and entertaining manner along with a good message, or even Munnabhai MBBS. I hope we are able to do that.

Do you get pre-release jitters? Is there anxiety about box office results especially since the past few releases in theatres were action-oriented and the ones that did exceptionally well were mostly films from the South? 

I have forgotten that feeling of box office jitters for two years but before every film there are pre-release butterflies and now this box office thing is happening after a long time. You don’t realise it till the last week of promotions because you are so busy chatting and reliving the film but what is in our control we have done that. That kind of anxiety is not there when your film is released on OTT but you still get those jitters because we want people to love it, ultimately films are made for the audience. Now we can only hope that the film is loved by everyone. Also, a good family entertainer hasn’t come for a really long time and this film kind of fills that space.

That brings us to the S Shankar directed South film RC15 that you are doing with Ram Charan Teja; there is a lot of buzz around what you called on social media as your first Pan India film post the film’s launch last year…

I cannot talk much about it because we are still shooting for it. But I would say that S Shankar sir is a legendary director who is making this relevant and important film. And I am working with Ram Charan again. We worked together in the 2019 Telugu action Vinaya Vidheya Rama and we have been friends since then. I am very excited about the entire project.

Seema Sinha is a Mumbai-based mainstream entertainment journalist who has been covering Bollywood and television industry for over two decades. Her forte is candid tell-all interviews, news reporting and newsbreaks, investigative journalism and more. She believes in dismissing what is gossipy, casual, frivolous and fluff.

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