De De Pyaar De franchise, starring Rakul Preet Singh and Ajay Devgn, received a lot of praise and love from the audience. In the second installment, R Madhavan came on board as Ayesha’s (Rakul) father, and the dynamic duo gave us some hard-hitting moments in the film. During an exclusive conversation with us, Rakul Preet Singh spoke in depth about playing her favourite character Ayesha, sharing screen with R Madhavan, and so much more. Read on.
Q1. The scene in which R. Madhavan’s Rajji confronts his daughter, Ayesha, after learning about her boyfriend’s real age, was so hard-hitting. Talk to us about that. How was the process like?
Ans. Yeah, I think it’s a very well-written scene. He’s talking from a father’s point of view that every father dreams for his child, right? All of that, and Ayesha is also pleading that he give the guy one chance. So there’s that plea in the first part and then when the dad just says no, then there is a transition. The defense mechanism that comes in a child every time we get a no, we get a little ki achha thik hai, phir main wo hi karungi (Okay, I will also do that only). We were totally in it. I remember that I’ve teared up in in that scene, and it was also very natural tearing up. It was not glycerine tearing up. I think that happened because Maddy Sir was so good and an an actor you’re always reacting. I really felt like my father is talking to me. I could really see that my father would have exactly said the same things.
Q2. In many scenes, I did not agree with Ayesha’s rebellious reaction to the situation. Did you have similar feelings and you took inspiration to make it so convincing?
If you follow Ayesha’s journey from part one, she’s always been rebellious. But that was more subtle because she didn’t have an opportunity. Who would she show her anger to? But she did yell at Ashish (Ajay Devgn) for cheating on her, and lying. She’s always been that person. Now you’re seeing her in her home space and in some point in our lives, not all but some may have had such conflicts with parents on something. Some person will cry, but some will rebel, they will scream. Ayesha is the latter. You may or may not agree with her because you don’t see enough examples around but I have seen very closely such people who are rebellious. And she’s a girl of today, and it’s not like she’s rebellious from day 1. t’s a graph. She pleads, cries, and when nobody listens to her, she rebels. If you follow a character’s journey from the time you’ve been seeing the character, Ayesha has always been that girl who will fight for what she wants. This is only a layer up because you’re not listening to her.
Q3. Which part was more fun to shoot?
Ans. How can I answer that? One is my right hand, one is my left hand. I think both the films, De De Pyar De franchise has been a very important film in my career. I think De De Pyar De was a film where Luv Ranjan Sir and Aqib Sir saw me and thought I could be Ayesha. And I had not done a role like this, I was largely working in the South at that point and and to see, visualise me like this, because a lot of my roles were very rooted and girl next door, and not this fiesty. Part two has been one of my most amazing journeys and the kind of love that Ayesha’s character is getting because it’s a very author backed role, in a commercial film, which is rare. And I feel like that I will always forever be grateful to Anshul, Luv and Tarun Sir for writing the character like this.
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Q4. You’ve done a lot of films across languages. Which is the one character in your journey that you have loved and that will stay with you for a long time?
Ans. Ayesha. Ayesha will stay with me till I die. You know when when there are certain characters which give you a transition into a second phase. Of course, my first film will always be very special. My first Telugu film, my first Hindi film because it launched me. Then there are certain films which are benchmarks that take you to the next league. That that put you up as an actor. There was this film Nannaku Prematho with NTR which got me my first set of awards. Ayesha in De De Pyar De made the Hindi industry notice me. So it’ll always be very important and now part two, the kind of love that I’m getting. Also for the fact that I’ve been given a role to prove, I‘ve been given a role to perform. Otherwise, we don’t write scripts, it’s only when a director gives you an opportunity to perform, will you perform and the character is so well-written. So Ayesha will always be special.
De De Pyaar De 2 is currently running in theatres. Have you watched it?