Exclusive: Ananya Panday, Shakun Batra, Dhairya Karwa Dive Into The ‘Gehraiyaan’ Of New Age Romance, Heartbreaks And Cinema
All that the internet is talking about right now is Gehraiyaan and why not, it’s got us all super excited. From an interesting cast, stunning visuals to the beautiful melodies, Gehraiyaan has got some happy surprises in store for us. And as we wait for the film to grace our screens on February, 11, director Shakun Batra and actors Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa, dive into the gehraiyaan of the much-awaited film with me, as they further unravel some interesting viewpoints on love, relationships and the changing world of cinema.
Q: As a director is it liberating to choreograph chaos?
Shakun: I feel like I come up with these pretentious terms if I can call them. And then they stick with me. Choreographing chaos is fun. The thing is that you can make the movie a conventional way or you can give yourself these little challenges to have fun along the way. So for me, I always look forward sometimes to a scene and be like, okay, what can I do in this scene? That’ll make it more fun. So, yes. I love to add chaos to a scene. And even in this film, there are a couple of chaotic scenes, and I love kind of then finding a way to put that out. Choreographing chaos is something I enjoy, but I now want to try something else after this.
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Q: Ananya, you revealed that Shakun wanted the actors to borrow from their insights for this film. How difficult was it for you and Dhairya to prepare for your characters Tia and Karan in Gehraiyaan?
Ananya: It was difficult in ways, just in terms of how challenging it was emotionally for me. I’m just starting out. It’s only my fourth film. I was like 21 in some scenes and I turned 22 while shooting some other scenes. I was really young. So, I hadn’t been through many things that I was going through as a character in the film. But I think, Shakun really helped me with conversations. He helped me kind of streamline my thoughts and put everything together and build a backstory and the process involved a lot of acting and intimacy workshops. Honestly, most of everything that’s in the film kind of organically happened even on set. A lot of magic kind of happened on set.
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Dhairya: Yes for me, the process was very seamless and very smooth. It all starts with a conversation with Shakun on how he sees it, how the other writers see it. And you have a sense of what they are looking in the story and how you contribute to it. It is so collaborative working with Shakun because, he allows you that freedom too, and your opinion is always considered. So, it’s always meeting in the middle. I mean, he’ll have his direction, he’ll have his point of view and then he’ll listen to us as well. Then you together create something. So it was very creatively enriching and very satisfying as a performer. And it was a joy to work in this film with such immensely talented people.
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Q: Ananya you have also mentioned that “Dharma and cinema have ruined love for me.” We all have grown up watching a certain kind of love tale, unfold on the big screen in Hindi cinema. Tell me about the many things that you as an actor and Shakun as a storyteller had to unlearn for this particular narrative?
Ananya: I mean, honestly it is true. When I was much younger, I always thought that there’d be someone like Raj and Rahul who would come and sweep me off my feet and all of that, but that doesn’t happen. And already at 23, I realise that that doesn’t happen. And I can sound silly by saying that I’ve had my fair share of heartbreaks already. It may get worse later on but I don’t want to disregard those feelings, because they’ve kind of helped me become who I am right now. So, I don’t think I had to unlearn so much because when I heard of this film, I already knew that is how life is, not fully because I’ve been through all of that, but because I have seen instances like this around, I’ve heard of stories like this. So, just the fact that it was so real kind of appeal to me. And at the end of the day, you do want to relate to something when you’re watching cinema. In a way you want to feel like your stories are being represented. Sometimes, watching a film that’s close to a situation in your life can help you find some answers as well. So that’s what it’s supposed to be. And even with this film, I think we are curious to know the kind of conversation that takes place after the film. We’ve put in a lot of hard work, honesty and love, and we want to see how people respond to it.
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Shakun: Now everyone’s talking about this, it wasn’t like that. Yes, our intent was to do something different, try something new. The process didn’t really become something unimaginable. The process has been the same for every time I make a film. We hope that this film connects and engages the audience and starts a conversation. And if that happens, I’ll be very happy. Well, that hard work that we put in, is then worth something and that’d be great.
Q: What’s the one thing you like and dislike about modern relationships and dating?
Dhairya: Let’s start with hate, the purity and the innocence is gone. It’s just too quick. Because I remember back in school, if I had a crush, I could just write a letter and receive a letter. I was in a boarding school and you know, we’d have these socials, I mean, once in a blue moon. So just having a conversation and saying ‘hi’ and jamming to music was a big deal. Oh, and holding hands was toh! All of that is just gone away. Everything’s so speeded up now. And what do I love about it? I mean, yeah, you don’t waste time.
Ananya: I make it a point to still write notes and force my partner to send them also. But, what I love about modern relationships is, I feel like right now as a society, we’re becoming way more accepting of people and who they truly are. So I feel like now people are just honest in relationships about everything, about their feelings, about what they need, what they want. So I think honesty has become a huge part of modern relationships. And what I don’t like about modern relationships is that I think everyone’s too cynical now. Sure, marriage may not be for everyone, but I don’t believe that you can just put an umbrella over it and say that the institution of marriage is destroyed and stuff. So I feel like it’s a bit cynical.
Shakun: What I love about it is, there are more ways to meet people today. You can meet them on an app, you can meet them via friends. People are more open to the idea of dating. Earlier, it was much harder. You had to hide and do things. I think that is more acceptable today and that is amazing. What’s bad about it is a breakup over text and emoting over text messages. I am not a person who emotes over texts, but when you get a one-page letter on the text message, I generally just drop a voice note saying call when you have to.
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Q: Gehraiyaan has a certain colour palette, courtesy of the locations at which the film has been shot. What was the process of finalising the locations or a particular aesthetic of the film?
Shakun: It’s very organic. It’s not something that I overthink. I do have a feeling of how the film needs to feel or look. I have the most amazing collaborators, starting from my production designer Abid, cameraman Kaushal, Anaita and we sit and we chat and we look at a few references and the feeling that we want. And then it’s a conversation. Everybody contributes and if you don’t like something, you change it. It’s really just what’s pleasing to your eye and you just build that.
Q: Andrew Garfield said in an interview that “I am not sure if the world needs movie stars” as he highlighted the unnecessary ‘Projection of Perfection.’ Actors today are expected to deliver beyond their craft. You are an influential figure, you’re doing brand endorsements, every movement of yours is being recorded. If given a chance, what would be that one thing you’d wish to eliminate from the drill of being an actor in today’s day and age?
Ananya: It’s a good question, actually and I think I would like to change the expectations of people when an actor is playing a character onscreen. I think they should be able to differentiate between, the actor as a person and what their beliefs are, as compared to the characters that they’re playing onscreen.
Dhairya: I think it’s okay to be yourself. As a society, there’s so much. Just the taboo, that you need to be well-versed with English and you don’t feel that you’re enough. And that’s the Anglo-influence we’ve had, right? You should be able to communicate, English is just another medium of communication and if you’re not well-versed with it, then it’s okay. Whatever your mother tongue is, you should be comfortable and confident in it.
Q: How do you deal with heartbreaks when it comes to your work?
Shakun: It happened to me and it actually made me realise that you can’t put your happiness in one place. Your work, your job, everything is a part of your life. And you have to be happy in your life. Not happy just in your work. So when your work doesn’t work, you have to find that happiness in a bigger place and it helps.
Ananya: When you put too much pressure on something or you have too many expectations from something, it’s bound to lead to heartbreak in some way, not just in work, it could be relationships and friendships and all of that stuff. It’s easy to say now, maybe when I’m going through it, I won’t feel the same way, but I think life is full of different kinds of experiences. You can’t have the ups without the downs and vice-versa.
Dhairya: I think we all have experienced heartbreak at work. Especially because that’s the nature of the business. The rejections are always going to be more than the number of ‘yes.’ And I can say for myself, hundreds of rejections. But I mean, you really need to focus on the ‘yes’ because that’s all you really need. You need that one ‘yes,’ that one person to believe in you. It also emphasises that you need to have a support system around you. Your close relationships, your friends, your family, that help you ride through that storm.
Q: Films today are celebrating the grey and flaws of women. Tell us about a female onscreen grey character that you loved?
Shakun: I love Succession and I love every single character in that show, including Siobhan, who is a really fleshed out character, who has a lot of great grey zones, ambition and power, and at the same time, beautiful femininity. And I feel like that’s what it is. People are more than just one thing. And when you embrace them as whole, three-dimensional characters, it is fun to watch.
Q: What was your take away from the journey of Gehraiyaan, Shakun?
Shakun: The journey is as important as the output, I never say that it’s more important than the output. So, we became friends and had a great time working on this film.
Gehraiyaan releases on Amazon Prime Video on February, 11 2022.
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