New Delhi: Amrita Rao might have played girl-next-door on screen in films like 'Ishq Vishq', 'Main Hoon Na' but the actress is now ready to take a leap in her career by playing a strong and layered character in Prakash Jha's 'Satyagraha'. The political drama will see Amrita Rao play the role of a school teacher in the film.
"I play Sumitra Anand in the film. She is a modern, educated, school teacher; who in the course of following her dreams is victimised," said Amrita in an interview to IBNLive.com. Though the actress will be seen in a new avatar in 'Satyagraha', she maintains that she is still the girl next door. "It's just that you will see a new girl next door in 'Satyagraha'. I have explored different facets of it in this film."
Prakash Jha's 'Satyagraha' revolves around the blatant issue of corruption and Rao thinks that the subject of the film is very topical and it does affect the youth of today. Moreover, it was the script of the film that prompted her to sign 'Satyagraha'. "Any common man would identify with the script as it deals with the real situation that is faced by our country and its youth. In fact, my role in the film is inspired by a true story. I see a lot of 'aam aadmi' in Sumitra. She stands up against the wrong and fights against it. My character is very strong and layered in the film."
Though, Prakash Jha's upcoming film echoes the angst of the aam-aadmi but the actress maintains that the film has nothing to do with the Anna Hazare movement that shook the nation two years back. There have been speculations that Amitabh Bachchan is portraying the role of the crusader in the film. However, Rao is prompt to clarify that 'Satygraha' is not based on the life of Anna Hazare.
"If something happens in the country, there will be protests and candle light marches. So, there might be symbolic similarities in the film but the representation is not being biographical to someone. In fact, I can tell you that Amitabh Bachchan is playing a retired school principal in the film and he is definitely not playing Anna Hazare in the film."
However, Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan, Arjun Rampal have done a handful of films with Prakash Jha but it is for the first time that the director has taken Amrita Rao under his wings. And, she couldn't be happier as she calls Jha a task master when it comes to delivering performance.
"As a filmmaker, Prakash Jha is very definite as to what he wants and he executes things at the speed of lightning. You just have one or two takes to deliver. It's his way of putting his actors to deliver their best. He wants his actors to be spontaneous and impromptu."
But at the same time the actress reveals that though 'Satygraha' is a multi-starrer and all the co-stars bonded well, there was not much scope for playing pranks on the sets. "It was great to work with all the co-stars in the film. However, the film did not give us the time to play pranks on each other. It was not the kind of film where there was scope to crack funny jokes. However, Amitabh Bachchan's sense of humour kept us in high spirits."
Amrita Rao, who will be sharing screen space with Kareena Kapoor for the first time in 'Satyagraha', is all praises for her co-star and calls Kareena an evolved actress. "It was wonderful to work with Kareena Kapoor. She is an evolved actress. She plays the role of a journalist in the film and I think it was really well performed," she added.
It's not just her co-star Kareena who plays a journalist; Rao herself will also be seen in the role of a news reporter in her next film 'Singh Saheb The Great' opposite Sunny Deol. "I underwent a lot of workshops to prepare myself for the role. I hope I come across as a convincing news reporter in the film."
Comments
0 comment