The Wedding Belle

From mane to movies,after the Band Bajaa Baaraat’s success at the Box Office,Anushka doesn’t mind being called the ‘Yash Raj girl’. “They are the one who gave me birth in the industry,my first shot and yes,I am grateful and a loyalist.” Now that she has got her feet firmly on the ground,she is being choosy and selective about work. “I don’t mind experimenting as long as the script and role is worth it. It doesn’t matter if I do five films with the same banner…for even the makers will make all five differently,” while she’s carries off her roles with confidence,Anushka’s still unsure where she stands in real life. “Unlike the character in my first film with Shah Rukh Khan,Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi,I’m a pretty straightforward mooh-phat person…in fact,I had to curb my enthusiasm throughout Rab Ne for I barely had any dialogues in the film.”

She makes no qualms of working with established actors like Shah Rukh. “I’ll be a hypocrite if I say it didn’t matter who my co-star in my first film was. As for Ranveer Singh in Band Bajaa Baaraat,we needed a new guy for Bittoo’s role. Interestingly,I assumed that after working with veterens like Khan and Shahid Kapoor,I wouldn’t be learning much from Ranveer. But he surprised me,for he has no inhibitions and is very focused.”

Doing Band Bajaa Baaraat also meant understanding the north Indian wedding culture where marriages are like grand festivals,getting used to a Delhi way of speaking and portraying a unlikely profession of a wedding planner. “The wedding planners bit is the film’s backdrop…primarily it’s a love story and I’m a huge romcom person. Anyways,as much as we needed to know about the planners was provided in the script as Maneesh Sharma (the director) and Habib Faisal (screenplay and dialogue writer) had researched extensively. Maneesh has been to so many weddings in his life in Delhi that he knew exactly what to present. In the meanwhile,it was the role of an event manager I had to work on,the way they speak fast,bark directions,are impromptu and being from Bangalore,I had to learn how a girl from Delhi speaks,fast and bindass.” For Anushka,another thing she feels films like Band Bajaa Baaraat have been able to talk about is an alternative career. “There are so many creative professions now…wedding planning being one,and this film is about that,no pretense,no apologies. Just a youthful feel to it with kids planning weddings in places like Gobindpuri and Janakpuri.”

Her onscreeen chemistry with Ranveer has been doing the rounds,but Anushka feels that chemistry first comes from the script. “It is a huge misconception that chemistry comes from actors. Chemistry comes from characters and from the script. If it’s well written,it helps in creating magic on screen.” Looking forward to playing Simran from South Hall,UK in Patiala House,Anushka,unperturbed by the competition,moves ahead.