EXCLUSIVE | Mrunal Thakur: 'Used to listen to Shah Rukh Khan's Veer-Zaara songs while I was preparing for Sita Ramam'

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Mrunal Thakur talks about her upcoming film Gumraah, how she initially didn’t want to do the film, and listening to the songs of Shah Rukh Khan’s Veer Zaara while shooting for Sita Ramam.

This is Vardhan’s directorial debut. While working with a first time director, how’s the energy on the sets like?

I didn’t feel it was his first film, no matter how tired the crew was, he was always on his toes, his energy is very infectious. I believe in surrendering to the director, I do not ask too many questions, and he was crystal clear what he wanted from my character. It was interesting to share screen space with Aditya and Ronit sir, there were four of us, since Aditya plays a double role. When the three of us would be on the sets, the energy was completely different, when Vardhan was on the sets, the energy would be completely different. I want this film to do well for Vardhan, I want the audiences to enjoy the movie for the treatment it has.

You are know for your realistic performances, and this character seems to be a no-nonsense police officer, so how was the prep like?

(Smiles) In all my past performances, my characters are either a daughter, a friend or a wife. I never had a job, it was mostly a home set up. Here, Shivani is at a job, so that was a challenging thing for me. My prep if you ask me, there was not much of an action sequence, it was more of a mind game. I ended up watching a lot of thriller movies and not only related to crime, but in general. I remember watching Shutter Island for the first time when I was preparing for this movie and it was really interesting. The audiences are also simultaneously thinking what is happening and who is behind all of this. I would end up going to the Powai police station and hang with the cops without them knowing about my identity. If there is a new staff joining my house, you have to do police verification, so it was nice going there. It was also very interesting to see women there, there was no gender bias. The way they speak, with an authority, with that power, I was really intrigued.

How has Vardhan ensured the film has the essence of the original and a stamp of its own?

The essence of the original is the plot, obviously. The characters have become stronger. To be honest, I haven’t seen the original. When they narrated the story to me, they mentioned it to me that this is an adaptation. I came with the thought process that I don’t want to do the film. When I read the story, I really wanted to be a part of it, I was interested. And yes, identical twins do exist, my last producers Aman and Pawan are so identical.

How was it like working with two Adityas?

Sometimes, you actually had to figure out whether he was Ronnie or Arjun. The first week was full of unraveling, and the second week was very interesting. Vardhan had scheduled it in such a way that we first had to finish with Ronnie and then we had to finish with Arjun. It was very difficult for Adi but it was also very interesting to see two different shades coming from the same actor. I am really impressed by his performance and he has done a great, fabulous job. I saw a bit of it at the dubbing studio, his characters are actually very very challenging. As an actor, I have only treated him as Arjun or Ronnie, I never let the Aditya come in between.

How many people have called you Sita ever since last year?

Everybody, even at the trailer launch, everyone was like Sita Sita, Sita. And Vardhan was like ‘Now I have so much pressure because the Sita benchmark is set so high.’ It’s so interesting that I started my life with Sonia, then Supriya, then Sita and now Shivani. There’s something with the S. Sita Ramam had such a huge repeat audience, with people watching the film for the ninth or the 10th time. I never had repeat audience in my career. I really want to understand from the audience the definition of what is a hit and what is a flop. What success for me is when the audiences remember you by the name of the character that you have played. This is the biggest award, the biggest reward, the biggest compliment.

On Sita Ramam’s comparisons with Veer-Zaara

Ohhh nooooo. Veer-Zaara is bible for us. Whenever I was preparing for Sita Ramam, I used to listen to Shah Rukh Khan’s songs on my earphones, some or the other Veer-Zaara’s songs. That’s how my process is, I need to have a song for each and every character that I play. That sets your mood, that three minute song actually has that power; the most difficult part is to find that song for that particular character. And thank you for the compliment, it made my day.

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