For me to get her headspace and her mindset right was harder than getting my reactions or my actions right
That'll be a trait for very bad actor and a very bad team player and I don't
think that's in me to ever think like that
Befikre for me was also very entertaining and a very cool
film and I’m very proud to be associated with it
I think they have empowered me enough to not take from anybody no matter who it is
Hello everyone my name is Aaina Mehta and today I have the gorgeous Vaani Kapoor with
me and we're here to talk about her brilliant performance that she gave in
Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, so Vaani welcome. Welcome to Pinkvilla.
Thank you.
How are you? How's it been? How are these few days been? What are you feeling?
It's been great. Apart from the fact that we're all still in the midst of pandemic and but
everything's feeling good and I think the film has gotten a lot of
love and great response from everybody so it's all good
So, I want to ask you that you know when Gattu Kapoor came to you with the narration you
know the role Manvi requires a lot of responsibility because you're to playing this character
and at the same time it's a little risky as well. So, what are the apprehensions and you know
what were your thoughts like when you heard the narration for the very first time?
I got a call from him and he was very sweet and he said that listen I have a film and I’m just
going to mail you when you go through it and if you happen to like you know connect or
something we can connect later after you give it a read. And I read it and I think I was
absolutely mind blown it just was so beautifully written and you know very nicely addressed
the whole thing, the whole film and my character in the movie so I think it just felt
instinctively right and I made a call to him. We had a bit of a discussion and got to
understand his understanding of Manvi and his treatment of Manvi and everything felt like
we're all on the same page and you know it just felt very right yeah
It was not like you know I’m not really sure, you know should I take this responsibility on
me did you ever feel that at one point?
No, I didn't I think I wouldn't have been in this movie and I
don't think I would have been suitable for it if I didn't have 100% conviction to play this part
You know there's a scene in the film Vaani where you're talking to your friend and you'll are at
the mall and you're actually telling her about your vulnerabilities and then Manu comes in
and he says some really mean things and you switch and you become the strong person so
you're vulnerable at the same time, you're very courageous and these two major emotions you
mixed it and put it out really well. How did you get the tone of the characters so correct and so
right and get into the skin of it, what were your preps like? Or like how did you go about it?
So we also had the casting director of the film Mukesh Chhabra, he had also flown down to
Chandigarh you know to help me set the tone of the character along with Gattu and we did
have a lot of readings before we you know spoke a lot about how she's going to conduct
herself in every given scenario and situation in you know in her life and just I think it was
more important for one to understand her head space than you know only emphasise on
the dialogues so I think once you get the headspace right everything then tends to make
sense and flow you know it has a different flow to it. For me to get her headspace and her
mindset right was harder than getting my reactions or my actions right so I think yeah, it's
just there's a lot of back work that you do you know you prepare a lot before you come on set
so that amount of preparation was at length done you know quite rigorously
And what about the community, how have they responded to you. Has someone from that
community reached out to you after the film?
They did and I’m so happy that they have loved Manvi and they've given so much love to her
and accepted her and I think for me that's the biggest achievement I could have had from you
know from this movie, their acceptance and their love and their I think the fact that, their
validation meant everything to me and I think that was some self-inflicted pressure that I also
took personally and the kind of responsibility it comes with you know you're
representing a very different community and forget as an actor you don't want to fail as you
know by misrepresentation you know of somebody who've gone through so much you know
they have their own various battles that they've fought in their lives that somehow I think we
happen to you know not even have a dialogue about in in our daily lives and we don't happen
to discuss them and so yeah I think getting it right was all the
more important for me because of them
And you know at any point did you feel like when you got to know that Ayushmann is on
board as well and you know Ayushmann is known for doing such progressive films for you
know picking up such topics at any point was there a doubt that what if this fact outshines my
character and what I’m playing because I’m the one who's
actually you know doing the unconventional role
That'll be a trait of a very bad actor and a very bad team player and I don't think that's in me
to ever think like that you know film is the most important thing firstly and I mean I have
done parts which are way smaller to a male leading part in you know in my previous films so
this is a way much better fleshed out opportunity for me to play a part like this. The fact that
somebody else gets to have a better part than me or I have the better part you know I take no
such arrogance and I would not also leave room for any insecurity like that.
That's great and you have been vocal about how secure you are as an actor. There was a lot of
buzz around Befikre but it didn't work that well what I want to know is at that point in your
life, did you ever lose hope or feel very low and have to pick
yourself up and do you think that now is the turning point of your career?
I was left a bit disheartened I think we all were. But yeah, that's just something you know
you live with every actor goes to their highs and lows and irrespective of whatever the fate of
that movie was, it was very special to me and I truly did enjoy my film. You know Befikre
for me was also very entertaining and a very cool film and I’m very proud to be associated
with it. In fact, there are a lot of journalists and interviewers and people who I talk to or you
know just on social media also there are a lot of people who have like
I like that film.
Because I honestly also like my movie and not because I have enacted in it but generally I
thought it was a fun film, it was a cool film and it was very progressive and ahead of its time
I guess but yeah, I think it left me disheartened but then you know you pick yourself up and
you brush off your whatever that it is and you know you
move on and you focus on what's next then give it your all, all over again.
And this is your turning point, do you think, do you see a change around you people towards
you, is there a slight difference in how they're talking to you?
How they behave or something like that a change that you've evidently seen?
I have never put in a lot of energy into scrutinising how people are around like in the industry
before and after of course there are a lot of people who had put their faith in me from the
beginning and people who've given me opportunities in the past irrespective of what the fate
of any of my previous films have been like you know be a film like War which was so
magnum opus you know and you had a director like Siddharth Anand who could have
practically gotten any big star to play a lead opposite Hrithik and he put his faith in me you
know, I have a Karan Malhotra from Shamshera who put his faith in me, who loved me from
my first film. I got a Gattu for Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui so you know there are a lot of
people who've also been there for me and have kind of I do feel the love a lot more now, I do
feel that there's a respect, a certain amount of respect that
I’ve garnered maybe after this film
Have you ever faced a toxic masculinity in your personal life, probably seen a friend's
boyfriend or probably something that you've seen
around you and like what was it? How did you know deal with that toxicness?
So fortunately like the kind of family that I have been brought up, in the kind of environment
I’ve been brought up in you know they've been raised by feminists both my father and my
mother and there's a lot of true sense of empowerment that one you know gathers from while
growing up you know in your initial very nascent stage of your life and I think they have
empowered me enough to not take from anybody no matter who it is if you're right, you're
right and you stand by you know what feels right to you and in this industry I have not
worked with or been associated or closely you know have had any kind of a friendship with
who I felt like was not correct by their behaviour. Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui kind of
through the medium of cinema I think it does speak about it how one needs to evolve and be
more progressive and have the correct mindset so I think as
artists we can do that from you know our films and we can promote it and support it
Awesome. And you have your next big release Shamshera coming up next year you guys are
done filming hopefully if Covid doesn't prevail we'll see it in the theatres
I want to know how was it working with Ranbir Kapoor such a great actor and what was the
experience like we know he's humble but like what is that
one thing you took away from him as an actor?
I'm sure he works very, very hard before he comes on set but when he's enacting a scene you
just feel like he's so effortless it doesn't feel like you know someone like him, he just
seems very naturally gifted you know he's a truly gifted actor and I think there's a lot of
screen presence and a persona that he has which is something I don't know if you
can develop over a period of time or not but it just seems very authentic and organic with him
and I think which is why who he is you know I love him as an audience as well I love
watching his films and I do connect to his characters on a very deeper level because I
genuinely feel like everything feels authentic with him and he's a fun guy, he's fun and he's
chill and he's like you said humble which by now I think everybody knows and he also
likes to, we used to play these games on set what is it called
I’ve forgotten thing you know those were Word Scapes games
No yeah, it's something like scrabble but it’s not scrabble like you know how you make the
jumble up alphabets and you make words out of those. He's a fun, easy
person to work with and he can be goofy and he can yeah, he can also be very goofy.
So, thank you so much and we hope we meet in person and not E-meet the next time
Thank you so much. Bye.