Bollywood actor Aparshakti Khurana is on cloud nine following the humongous success of his latest outing—Stree 2. In an exclusive interview with Deccan Chronicle, the actor talks about what made the movie click, his upcoming film, his bromance with Rahul Bose and why he loves Vijay Sethupathi.
Congratulations on the success of Stree 2! You must be on cloud nine to be a part of a film that has broken so many records at the box office?
Absolutely, because this doesn’t happen very often to a film like this. The first part also got a lot of love. But this love is totally unprecedented which nobody anticipated.
From Dangal to Stree—Your choice of roles is diverse. What parameters do you consider before choosing projects?
First of all, the very basic process is to do something different, which solves most of the puzzle. Secondly, I think it’s very important to work with relevant people. And I think Maddock and Amar are the most relevant people in town right now. So it was a no-brainer to be a part of this. Also, there were some lines in the script which I thought I would have fun saying them on screen in front of the camera. So the most important thing is—what is there in the script in totality and then for yourself. So films like Dangal, Stree or Jubilee really ticked all these boxes.
What was the most challenging part about playing Bittu in Stree 2?
The most challenging part would be shifting from horror to comedy. I think it’s not something which is very easy. It requires a lot of physical contribution as well. Expressing fear, shouting, screaming and running—it really drains you out. So the difficult task was to maintain energy. And then I used to have a sore throat while screaming. You have to keep your voice texture intact because in any film voice modulation is a critical aspect, at least for me. So that was the most challenging part.
You celebrated the success of ‘Stree 2’ with your family in London. How important is family support in your career
It is most important. As soon as the opening numbers started coming in, I could see a relaxed and a happy week ahead. It’s very important in which mindset you are going on holiday with your family. Especially for artists, because the world of artists is very uncertain. It happens for others as well, but when it comes to creative sensibilities, you don’t have much influence on the market. At least in other things, there will be some parameters, processes where you know by doing this, you will end up taking this much money home.
But in films, it doesn't happen like that. When I realized the vibe was fine and there was buzz and good advance booking, I planned a quick holiday with my family. It was also my daughter’s birthday week. We did all sorts of fun activities from Peppa Pig World to the Arsenal Game in London.
Your upcoming film ‘Berlin’ has received accolades at various film festivals. The film sees you cracking a case through sign language. What was the most challenging part of learning sign language for this role?
Actually what happened till now in my career was I had to learn different dialects—perhaps try a few variations in Hindi—Haryanvi, Punjabi or Kashmiri. I tried to learn in terms of dialect or colloquial terms. But for the first time, I had to deal with sign language, where you have to express through sign. This was one of the most challenging and interesting parts and that’s why I absolutely love my profession because I get to do so many new things that I couldn’t have done otherwise.
Can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming projects— ‘Badtameez Gill’ and ‘Finding Ram’?
Finding Ram is a beautiful docu-film—where I am playing a traveller. It’s not a character, I am playing Aparshakti (myself) where I travel from Ayodhya to Lanka and stop at each and every place where Sri Ram stopped during his 14 years of exile. I speak to priests and local villagers. I rope in some experts and a few authors. Sometimes, going on a film set can also become monotonous and also you get to see a new character every four months, so it plays with your mind a lot. Sometimes, you like to see what you are (the real you) in front of the camera.
So, with those intentions, I had one of the most beautiful journeys of and experiences during my shoot. We went to different places, shot in Chitrakoot and Sri Lanka, an amazing journey. There was an American expert who knew a lot about Ramayan. I was very shocked. So you get to learn a lot from different types of people you meet.
Finding Ram brought out the best in me. Apart from that, Badtameez Gill is a story of a dysfunctional Punjabi Gill family. I think most Asian families are dysfunctional. The film has Paresh Rawal, Sheeba Chaddha and Vaani Kapoor. We had a great time shooting in Bareilly and London.
You have worked with Paresh Rawal, Rajkumar Rao, Rahul Bose, Pankaj Tripathi and Shraddha Kapoor. What is the collaboration you enjoyed the most?
I must take Rahul Bose’s name here. He has really treated me like a younger brother. There was a very instant give and take of love and respect with him. I share a very close bond with him. The way he has kept himself relevant for years, kept himself fit for years and always done projects which are extremely meaningful is commendable. You will never see Rahul Bose in a frivolous script or anything which is not real filmmaking and that’s what I love about him.
Why did you think ‘Stree 2’ became a blockbuster hit?
The teamwork and the off-camera camaraderie between the crew members. We are one happy family together which really helps, to go on a happy set and doesn’t try to take each other’s spaces. When the word 'I' becomes 'us', God also looks out for you. Then the energies get together to make a film like ‘Stree’ at 400 crore as we are talking today.
Do you watch South movies?
I recently watched Maharaja. And, my mind is blown. I love Vijay Sethupathi. The last film I had seen of his was Super Deluxe. Even though I rarely get to watch South movies, I have become a big fan of whatever I have seen so far. Maharaja has the finest screenplays I have ever seen and amazing performances by Vijay and Anurag Kashyap. I really enjoyed watching it. I also watched a Gujarati film— Vanilla Ice Cream. Amazing performance and amazing writing. So, I do watch regional cinema.
