Sanjana Sanghi's EXCLUSIVE interview on Pankaj Tripathi's 'Kadak Singh' & cinema changing

In an EXCLUSIVE interview with Firstpost, Sanjana Sanghi talks to Firstpost’s Lachmi Deb Roy on cinema changing, how she has worked on her craft since the time she started off, cinema changing and more. She believes, dumbing the audiences down is a lazy approach to filmmaking, Director Anuruddha Roy Chowdhury also joins the chat and mentions how he grew up on a diet of world cinema ever since his childhood days.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

How did you prepare for the role you essay in Zee 5’s Kadak Singh?

Sanjana: For a film like this, it was a collective prep because Kadak Singh is a thriller in some parts and blends into a family drama, so we all had to spend some time together. But the prep was more internal because none of us had a particular skill that we had to pick up.

Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury: They all had to go through workshops and not very typical workshops because this is a very realistic and authentic film. Every moment, every emotion and every incident, we know. We all met several times, we ate, we drank, we spoke about life, and that’s the process that happened; it’s like theatre. We had a very necessary understanding before starting the film.

You have matured so much as an actor Sanjana since the time you started off, how much do we see you in Kadak Singh’s daughter?

Sanjana: I find it impossible not to bring myself in the characters that I play. It may not be exact in terms of context since the world could be completely different but there’s a certain emotional core you lend to your character. When you are not an artist, you spend your entire life not getting to explore. With each film, I am using it as an opportunity to dig deeper. Through Sakshi, I was able to dig into vulnerability and resilience.

What do the two of you have to say about cinema changing and the way the digital platform has paved way for it?

Aniruddha: I started my life with theatre. The commercial Bengali films were very layered, I saw a Bengali film that’s called Me, She, and My Beloved in English. My parents used to watch a film every Friday, I used to hold their hands, and I absolutely used to love films. Cinema was different at that point of time. I then began growing up on European films, I also saw films like Bandini, Sujata. I simply loved Bimal Roy’s films. The good phase of cinema needs to come back and I’m very happy with the advent of OTT. Today, you can watch all kinds of films, I’m watching Israeli films, Korean films.

Sanjana: Dumbing the audiences down is a lazy approach to filmmaking. It’s a very predictable way of working but what’s at stake? You’ll fail in trying to do something new. There were so many films back in the 80s that got great reviews but never performed at the box-office. Shabana Azmi often speaks about her films that never reached the masses but are remembered years later. Even our director could’ve added something in Kadak Singh to make it look more glossy or Bollywood, but he didn’t jump into it because that’s not what he is.

Sanjana, you have evolved a lot as an actor. What was the inspiration behind your evolution?

I didn’t choose the rest of my life wanting to act. There are a lot of people who know what to do in life very early, I wasn’t one of them. I started learning Kathak ever since I was four years old, and I would travel all over the country and perform. When Imtiaz Ali saw me and cast me in Rockstar when I was 13 years old, I began realising what it means to me to be on a film set. I am not driven by external validation. Dhak Dhak didn’t get a proper release and it didn’t have the commercial trappings of a Hindi film, the trailer released three days prior, but it will not deter my choices of films as an actor.

Kadak Singh is showing on Zee 5