Exclusive: Neha Dhupia On Playing A Pregnant Cop In ‘A Thursday’, Working With Dimple Kapadia, Yami Gautam
I have always loved thrillers – the suspense, the plot, the twists and turns, etc. So, when I was on the quest to find a good intense thriller, my eyes landed on A Thursday trailer. Knowing that it is a highly anticipated suspense thriller, I knew I had to watch it. And boy, it did not disappoint. Watching A Thursday trailer starring Yami Gautam, Dimple Kapadia, Neha Dhupia, Atul Kulkarni, and Karanvir Sharma, was a treat. It had me hooked from the very beginning. So as I wait for the movie to grace our screens on February 17th, 2022, I have with me one of the leading ladies of the movie, Neha Dhupia, who takes me through the journey of A Thursday while keeping the suspense alive, as she talks about playing a cop while being 8 months pregnant.
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Q. How did A Thursday happen for you and what was the prep like? Especially playing a pregnant cop, while actually being pregnant. What was that like?
Neha Dhupia: I think the biggest prep was to play a cop. When you’re playing a cop you’re somebody who’s a risk-taker and so for me, more than anything else, it was a mental prep and of course, doing your lines as an actor. That’s one thing, and another is knowing how to hold your gun straight and everything else that Behzad Khambata held my hands through, teaching me things. So that’s pretty much what the prep was. But when I was hired to play the part, this was in November 2020, and then there was a lockdown. So, I came back five months later to tell Behzad Khambata that we haven’t shot and now I’m on the verge of being fully pregnant. I was probably in my third trimester, by the time we started shooting and he, Ronnie, Pasha, and Ashley were nice enough. They just turned around and said, “Hey, we’re gonna work with you”. And so my prep was also that for the first time I’d be working on camera while being eight months pregnant. That’s kinda something that made it extremely interesting, challenging, and also wonderful because one never gets these kinda opportunities because the industry comes with a huge stigma that if you wanna have children then it becomes about sabbatical and comebacks. Whereas, in this case, I had the option and they gave me that option.
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Q. How was your experience working with Yami Gautam, Dimple Kapadia, Atul Kulkarni, and the rest of the cast and crew?
Neha Dhupia: It’s very interesting because I was so excited to see Dimple ma’am in the same promo as me. I wanna rephrase that me being in the same promo as Dimple ma’am. I didn’t have too much work with her, but we were in the same film because it’s a thriller and everything was short simultaneously, and at the same time, people who had passed with each other were shooting. I had a lot of work with Atul Kulkarni, he was great. He’s such a fantastic actor. When I was shooting with Yami Gautam also, she’s a thorough professional; such a great cast for this kind of a part, because there’s a certain idea you have of her versus what she is. It’s pretty clutter-breaking with what she’s done in the film, and I’ve seen the film now, and she’s so good.
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Q. Pregnancy is a time when emotions are heightened. You being a mother yourself, did the script impact you emotionally, considering its subject of children being kidnapped?
Neha Dhupia: The fact that I’m a mom and then to see or hear of a story that does take 16 kids hostage does sort of giving you shivers, but it is a thrilling film. That’s what it’s supposed to do, but the message, what the film stands for in the larger context is something that you’ll have to wait to see, and find out. Because when you watch a film and which is a thriller – especially when you’re promoting it – there’s such an ability for us as actors to put spoilers out there that you’re like, okay, I need to watch my fees and ques. But as a mom, of course, there were times when I saw the promo and the first tease that came out that had given me shivers. I can’t listen to ‘Twinkle twinkle little stars’ the same way.
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Q. You said in an interview that since this is your second pregnancy, things were much better since you knew what to expect. But still, were there unexpected moments?
Neha Dhupia: Things that I was going through like growth spurt, my baby was going through a growth spurt. So when I started shooting, I was six and a half or seven months pregnant. And then towards the end of it, I was wearing shoes with laces and I couldn’t even tie my shoelaces. Even with the vanity van, the first step of your trailer is always very high. So I had to add more and more steps to it. And then when I had to sit on a chair, I couldn’t go down that low, so with every passing week, there was one chair added on the top off of another as a stacking chair. In fact, I remember when we were shooting for A Thursday somewhere in Bombay and we had early morning shoots and I would tell my driver “jaldi pohocho” because I wanted to have hot idli and upma from a couple that would sell food on the street there. That was my craving then and I love street food. So, you know, things like that were very sweet, but I always say that when a pregnant woman walks into the room, everybody’s extremely cautious and careful, which is a great thing. But we should be the ones to decide professionally whether we want to actually take a break or a sabbatical from our jobs because our pregnancy never makes us weaker. In fact, it makes us stronger. I mean, if we’re strong enough to give life, we’re definitely strong enough to show up for work.
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Also Read: ‘A Thursday’ Review: Yami Gautam’s Portrayal Of A Kidnapper Will Have You Sitting On The Edge Of Your Seat
Q. Is there a scene or a section of A Thursday that you’re eagerly waiting for the audiences to watch?
Neha Dhupia: I think the movie in its entirety. You see a lot of what’s going on in the first half of the film now, but I feel like the message is something that I can’t wait for people to watch.
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Q. There are 3 strong female characters in the movie that play pivotal roles. How does it make you feel that having OTT platforms has changed the roles that are made for women?
Neha Dhupia: I feel cinema’s always been a huge reflection of society and you see women who are everywhere, excelling and right on top of their game. And they’re just unstoppable in so many different ways. At the same time, they’re balancing work life, balancing children, and doing all of it. So why shouldn’t it happen in cinema? Like look at this year, it started on such a great note. There’s Gehraiyaan, Looop Lapeta, A Thursday, Badhaai Do and so many more films that are even coming out. Speaking of pregnancy, there was Mimi, which was such a nice film that came out and they’re all women-centric roles. So, of course, the writing is great. I told somebody in an interview sometime back that there was a time that we were oscillating between great projects and great films when I started off in the business. But now we kind of oscillate between good content and outstanding cinema. And so even on a bad day, you’re getting good content. I feel that there were great years where great roles were written for women even earlier, but now there are more great roles and I feel like moving on, there’ll be even greater roles. And then we’ll reach a point where it’s all there. There’ll be great roles for women and men, and we’re not probably gonna be having this conversation because we’re at the tipping point on the verge of it becoming a fair and equal place. Is it there yet? I’d say no, but we’re getting there.
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Q. Are you a binge-watcher? What has been on your watch list lately? Anything that particularly moved you?
Neha Dhupia: I’ve been watching everything from non-serious to serious drama like Dynasty, Gehraiyaan, Pushpa, and so many different films. I don’t have that much time but I did get around to watching Looop Lapeta, Kapil Sharma’s documentary – that was interesting. So, all of it together.
A Thursday releases on February 17th, 2022, exclusively on Disney+ Hotstar.
