I still shake on the first day of every film shoot
I've seen Ananya
Sara I've known for 6-7 years now
I think it's great that films from all over the country are getting so much attention
Hi, everyone this is Avinash Lohana and you're watching Pinkvilla
Today I'm in conversation with a very very adorable Jahnavi Kapoor
Hi HI
Firstly, welcome to Pinkvilla, thank you for doing this with us
No, thank you for having me.
I have to ask you this, Congratulations on your award firstly
Yes, you guys put up such a wonderful evening
so many people turned up and we had such a good time, [Avinash] I hope you did
I did for sure. Lovely [Avinash]
Thank you so much for coming that day as well.
Good Luck Jerry, it's a film that everyone is waiting for and I don't know
If you remember that your first film released in July,
This one is also releasing in July
Oh yes [Jahnavi] Right you finished 4years in the business this july
Oh wow! What date was it?
20th july that was, 20th July [Jahnavi]
Yes, this is 29th well that's sweet
4 years Yay!
How do you feel when you look back at this journey today?
Has this been rewarding?
I feel old.
I feel like I've definitely grown and learned so much but I feel like
4 years have already passed, I wanted to do so much more
I learnt so much but still got to do so much despite the pandemic I think
And it's just I was a different person, four years ago I think
Sure, you know when you back at that first day when you went on the set
you look at yourself today how do you feel? I'm sure the growth is also an achievement right?
I would hope so.
I think i would look back at how I was 4 years ago on that first day of shoot
I remember I didn't sleep all night.
really?
Yeah I was so nervous, I didn't sleep and it was an early morning shot and
God I remember I was shaking
yeah
now it's much better?
I still shake on the first day of every film shoot.
It's a black comedy. yes [Jahnavi]
and you know Pierce Brosnan once said dark comedy is very difficult
you have to bring the audience in and push them away at the same time
that's right yeah-
I don't want to push them away.
No you have to make them laugh and at the same time
you have to make them uncomfortable, that's the idea of a black comedy
Really? Isn't it? [Avinash]
I don't know whether they'll be uncomfortable but they'll laugh for sure, I think
Actually yeah, they will probably be uncomfortable also.
Maybe a little shift in their seat is what I mean
Yeah for sure.
Right, not the usual comedy.
Yeah I mean there's a bit of thrill a bit of action
A lot of quirky mad characters
Was it challenging? The genre itself?
I'm sure in a normal comedy there're jumpscares even in Roohi
it was a horror-comedy, there were jump scares there were other methods to make people laugh
More than the genre I think the dialect was a little challenging for me
I tried to be as particular as possible, I really didn't want to-
Because there're a lot of emotionally heavy scenes also in the film
and I didn't-
I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going in and out of the dialect.
I wanted to try to make sure there was some consistency
So I think to try to be anal about that while also thinking about the performance
was a little bit of a challenge but hopefully, we've succeded
I'm sure. I hope so [Jahnavi]
You're also doing Mili, which is a remake of Helen, a Malayalam film
Somebody saw the film, who I know and has told me it's turned out phenomenal
Really? [Jahnavi] yes [Avinash]
Who saw?
I'll tell you off the camera, but that person told me that the film has turned out phenomenal
And Have you made a lot of changes from the original there?
No.
No? no we actually haven't
I mean it's tough no, because 70% of the film is a survival thriller
I mean she is stuck in the freezer
and Mathu sir, who directed the original has directed Mili also
and he was very clear about his vision, although he keeps telling me that
Mili as a character is very different from Helen and he was like
he was like I wasn't trying to make her different
but I just wanted to be wanted you to be yourself a little bit in the film
and try to bring that energy out so hopefully it's worked out
He didn't want me to do any readings,
He didn't want me to read the script
he said don't learn the dialogues if you don't want to just show up on set
so, yeah it was kind of I was very nervous because I've never worked like that
But that's liberating as an actor also
I think so, I definitely learned a lot i learned a lot
and it was an experience like I don't even know how to describe that experience
They built a freezer for me which was at minus five degrees at all times
and we shot in it and we were only supposed to shoot for 10 days
But we ended up shooting for 21. People were falling sick and
It was so tough but I hope it's paid off.
What is your opinion on the South versus Bollywood debate?
It's going on a lot, these days.
It is no! It's kind of weird.
Because i firstly of course that there will be
firstly, I'm an advocate for Indian cinema
and I understand that there will be a divide because there is
a very obvious language barrier
but I think that it's great that films from all over the country are getting so much attention
are widening their reach, I don't see how that's a bad thing and if
in fact, I think it might encourage other people also to like
step up, and pull up their socks, it might encourage more collaborations
between different industries within India, I think that our country is full of talented people
Such amazing creative minds, that if we just work together
as a collective community then I think that we'd create some amazing content
and as far as this bollywood or Hindi cinema versus the South cinema goes I think that
see we've all always been making films, off late I guess
their films have a certain amount of reach that maybe
The ratio has gone a little off but
it's okay, we've done so much work also
we've entertained and the Hindi language films have entertained so many people
for so long as well and exactly collected those numbers also
I think it's just maybe like momentary ups and downs that happens
it's not a bad thing it's a good thing.
But I think we can also look it as you know you can probably answer that
question, because you're part of the business
after the kind of content that is appealing to the audience from South
has the makers started thinking to work on those lines to maybe appeal
to a larger audience, to a pan-Indian audience, has that murmur or discussion started
in the business?
I don't know I think that maybe they're just starting to realise
Okay people want this sort of experience in the theatres
or like this is clearly working but I really think if you make films with that intention
that this is working at the box office so let's replicate this formula for our films as well
people shouldn't make films like this
Correct.
Because that's a dishonest approach.
I think the reason these films have worked apart from the
vision and the scale and the
the swagger of the actors is the conviction and the honesty
and the fact that the vision was honest and I think personal
So I think if we just empower ourselves a little bit to have those ideas and not chase
formulas so much, we might be in a better place
I also have to ask you this another exciting thing that you're doing is Bawal
with Varun. you all are shooting for it How's that going, I'm sure the set would be mad
It's a lot of fun. It's actually not as mad as one would imagine it's
it's just amazing, Nitesh sir's energy is amazing
Mitesh, our D.O.P, he's so quick and he's got such great energy
the whole team is wonderful and I think we all believe so much in
in the story and in these characters that
I think it always feels good no when you're collectively feeling like
oh we're making something we believe in and we're creating something
and we're finding moments and Nitesh sir just has the best energy possible like
he can make you feel like you can do no wrong like you're in the safest space ever and
he really guides you and hand holds you through things and still gives
gives you the freedom to try things out I'm having the best time on that set
yeah... but any fun moments from the set that you can share
Anything that happened recently, you all shot in Berlin, right?
we shot in Berlin and we shot in Paris
Wow! Yeah [Jahnavi]
I don't know if-
Okay so we were shooting, we had to wake up really early one day
on most days because we were shooting Paris is touristy place so,
you need to shoot before all the tourists come in so we had to wake up really early
and I had been intermittent fasting because I had to lose weight for
Mr & Mrs Mahi, where I play a cricketer so I needed to start looking a little athletic
And so I had my last meal at 7 pm, the previous evening
We woke up at 4 am the next day and nothing in Paris opens till 9.30 am
so I was waiting... starving
finally, at 10 they said we got the food but by the time it reached me it was 11 am
and we finished the shot and we were sitting in the garden and
finally, I was so happy I was having breakfast like scrambled egg and it looked yummy
and I opened the box for two seconds I look away and I look back
and a dog has come and taken all of my food and gone
like at one go, just picked it all up and gone and I have just started crying
and i was like why is this happening with me?
it was very bad.
It was a hard day I hope you got your food soon-
No I got so angry at like at life and god like i'll not eat again, I'll stay famished
Hilarious.
Also, today's generation's stars like you and Varun or even you Sara and Ananya get along so well
and it's... how people perceive that contemporaries don't really get along well
it's not the same anymore, do you like this?
which of course was a perception at one point, do you like the company
is there a chance that we can see jee le zara like movie that's in the making with Sara-
i think it'll be so fun It will be [Avinash]
I think it will be wild,
i think that I'm actually really fond of these girls
I think that I have a lot of respect for what they do and how they carry themselves
and I enjoy their company a lot and
and we've seen each other for so long I've seen Ananya
She's been Shanaya's best friend forever, so I've always seen her around
Sara, I've known her for 6-7 years now since before she was an actor
So for me, in my head, when I think of them I don't think of them like
"Oh my contemporaries", i think first of like
the little girl with long hair who used to like run around with Shanaya or like
Sara, who visited me in LA and like made me skip lines at Disneyland you know and so I
yeah and like it's and-
I actually really like them and I want them to do really well and I think
they would want the same for me I think we're secure enough to know that
we can all co-exist and thrive
Yeah. more power
Yeah it's not like there would be only one actress in the industry and only she'll get all the work
It doesn't work like that.
You also mentioned Shanaya, Shanaya, Khushi, all of them are making their debuts
Do they like to come up to you now for advice?
Do they- do you like and protect your sister and give them something
Yeah, I think I'm quite protective of both of them. Khushi doesn't ask for advice so much
She gives me advice. I in fact, think sometimes Shanaya asks me for more advice than Khushi does
but they're both smart and confident like I was in Delhi for Shanaya's ramp walk
That she did for Manish's show and I was in awe of how confident she was
She owned that ramp and I thought that that was so cool and people underestimate
How gutsy it is to be in front of everyone and have that much confidence and be unfazed
It takes a lot and not many people can
I don't know pull it off with that much ease I think
especially, because you all are known faces already so already there's so much of pressure
and then these judgements to deal with and then to deal with
and then to deal with it so much of confidence, more power
I guess so but in life, we've got a lot very easily so
if a few people are saying things like nepotism and she doesn't deserve to be here
like you can deal with that I think.
It's not like, you're getting to do what you love to do so
yeah, oh that debate is never-ending [Jahnavi]
Yeah never-ending True.
Any chance of seeing you and Arjun work together It will be crazy.
I hope so.
I really hope so, the thing is that I think because we're all working so much touchwood
we're not getting to spend as much time together as a family as I would want us to I think
And I think the most time I've spent with Papa has been during the shoot of Mili
because we were creatively doing something together
So I think the only way now to get the family together is to just do a film
and like cast everyone in the family maybe we'll have to call it nepotism only
because it's all family but
Yeah I would love to do a film with him
But I know you have a WhatsApp group that you all keep in touch with
Yeah, called Dad's kids Really? [Avinash]
how cute!
Dad's kids plus Dad
Because Papa was feeling left out so we had to add him to the group
yeah I know he once told me he also sends you all those pictures from getting ready in all the groups and all
Oh, God! He's obsessed with clicking pictures
Does he keep sending you also his pictures in suits?
Yeah
Wearing different suits. But he is actually the real style icon of India
yes. no one knows it [Jahnavi]
Yeah and one of the most nicest person I know truly.
Last question; who's your favourite cartoon character? Tom or Jerry?
Jerry,
Tom was like big and dumb, Jerry is small cute and smart.
I agree, but I can't wait to see Good Luck Jerry
and I can't wait to see everything you're doing in the future thank you so much
Thank you.
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