Hate begets hate. Positivity spawns positivity and failure is just one more step in our march to success – this is the mantra that Anushka Sharma lives by. She shrugs off slander, laughs away at the evils of social media and confesses that she didn’t have a clear vision from the beginning, but says, “I knew what I didn’t want to do.” That’s her – feisty and fearless. It reflects in her choices of films, too. Like the upcoming Phillauri, which is also her second production with brother Karnesh. How different can she be? Read on to find out more about what makes Anushka tick.
For NH10, your first film as producer, you chose Navdeep Singh as your director, who was just one-film old. Now, for Phillauri, you are again working with a first-time director, Anshai Lal. You really vest a lot of faith in new talent, right?
I have worked in Band Baaja Baaraat with a new director, Maneesh Sharma, and that was a turning point in my career. In fact, at that point, when I was so new, I needed an established director even more, but I believed in him. I think at some point someone gave me a chance, so there is no reason why I shouldn’t do the same. I hadn’t seen Manorama Six Feet Under when I decided to work with Navdeep Singh. I judged him on the basis of how he had written the story and the way he narrated the film. Sometimes, your instinct tells you that something is right. Anshai Lal, on the other hand, has been my brother Karnesh’s (producer) friend for years and when he came up with the idea, we all liked it, but there was no story around it. I was intrigued by his take on something like a boy getting married to a tree because he is a manglik.
In Bollywood when a film does well, people rush to adapt, remake and repackage the same concept. Even actors follow suit, and it becomes a vicious cycle.
The industry likes to repeat things that have worked with the audiences. I am completely the opposite of that. I will not do something that I have done before. I have refused a lot of good scripts just on those grounds. The films were good and they did well too, but it didn’t work in my scheme of things. After NH10, I was offered a lot of roles to play a strong woman avenging her husband’s death, but I wasn’t keen on doing them. If something has worked and it’s repeated, how will it work again? If you observe, often when people come to you with scripts, they give you a reference of some other film. Like that, NH10 became a reference film.
For NH10, your first film as producer, you chose Navdeep Singh as your director, who was just one-film old. Now, for Phillauri, you are again working with a first-time director, Anshai Lal. You really vest a lot of faith in new talent, right?
I have worked in Band Baaja Baaraat with a new director, Maneesh Sharma, and that was a turning point in my career. In fact, at that point, when I was so new, I needed an established director even more, but I believed in him. I think at some point someone gave me a chance, so there is no reason why I shouldn’t do the same. I hadn’t seen Manorama Six Feet Under when I decided to work with Navdeep Singh. I judged him on the basis of how he had written the story and the way he narrated the film. Sometimes, your instinct tells you that something is right. Anshai Lal, on the other hand, has been my brother Karnesh’s (producer) friend for years and when he came up with the idea, we all liked it, but there was no story around it. I was intrigued by his take on something like a boy getting married to a tree because he is a manglik.
In Bollywood when a film does well, people rush to adapt, remake and repackage the same concept. Even actors follow suit, and it becomes a vicious cycle.
The industry likes to repeat things that have worked with the audiences. I am completely the opposite of that. I will not do something that I have done before. I have refused a lot of good scripts just on those grounds. The films were good and they did well too, but it didn’t work in my scheme of things. After NH10, I was offered a lot of roles to play a strong woman avenging her husband’s death, but I wasn’t keen on doing them. If something has worked and it’s repeated, how will it work again? If you observe, often when people come to you with scripts, they give you a reference of some other film. Like that, NH10 became a reference film.
