Sara Ali Khan is missing the rush of theatrical releases after Atrangi Re, Gaslight release on OTT: ‘Hopefully I’ll go there again also’

Gaslight, also starring Chitrangada Singh and Vikrant Massey, was made for the OTT platform. The film’s trailer released to lukewarm response recently. On being asked why she chose to do the film, the actor revealed that it was the “film’s engaging and thrilling script” that did the trick for her.

Sara says, “For me, it is the first time I’m delving into a genre like this. The real reason is also not that. I’m just lucky enough that it is yet another genre that I can get to explore because it is the age of exploration for me. I enjoyed the script so much that I thought this film needs to be made today and I need to do this film now.

“It is not very often, especially in this genre that you come across a read which is so engaging and exciting. In this very rich and thrilling world, there is depth, layers and nuances to each and every character and that’s so interesting to explore,” she added.

Sara played Rinku in Atrangi Re and will now be seen portraying the role of Misha — there is a certain kind of similarity to both these roles, as both the characters seem to be trying to cope with the loss of their fathers. On this, Sara explains that even while there are similarities between Rinku and Misha, they are “product of their circumstances”.

She says, “I think Rinku and Misha are very different. The only similarity I see in them is the similarity that we all share that you become a product of circumstances that you are in. Rinku grew up in a family without love, so for instance she started having attachments with certain things whereas I think Misha feels a very palpable sense of loneliness as well, which I think both these characters had in common. But while one of them could do Chaka Chak in a saree, the other ones on a wheel chair, so there is a decent amount of distinction too.”

When asked how she looks at herself having back to back OTT releases, she said, “Honestly, when we talked about Atrangi Re, we didn’t think… because it started before Covid and lots of things happened, it wasn’t expected to be an OTT film but it did go directly to Disney Plus Hotstar. I really feel that the gap between OTT and theatre is really not that much, at least for me if I’m telling the stories that deserve to be told and if the content is rich enough. Like even for a film like Atrangi Re, a lot of love and a lot of appreciation was given to me even though it was an OTT film. As an actor it is my job to entertain, and if the content has the ability to touch your heart then it’ll transcend any medium.”

But does she miss the rush of a theatrical release? She says, “Ya of course, but that’s because that’s how I started. Kedarnath and Simmba released the same year and I didn’t want to leave the cinema hall because I was ‘yay, watching my film, watching my film again — a different one’. Of course one is used to that and you know I do miss it. Hopefully I’ll go there again also. (I’ll do) everything all the time.”

So does she think young actors today should accept OTT and other platforms as an extension to their scope of work? She says, “I don’t know about extension or not. I’ll definitely tell you that maybe the type of content that is created is more varied now. Maybe it was always like that, but it is definitely coming to me more. But I have actually not looked at life like that. I look at life through my lens, what’s really the point of thinking about it otherwise. But I know that whether it was Ae Watan Mere Watan or Gaslight, to be able to shoot these films in the same year was so amazing for me. Because on one hand there is this dark, gritty film where I am bound to a wheelchair and on the other side I am playing a freedom fighter from the 1940s and it is amazing. I think this kind of content is being consumed, so whether it is OTT or theatrical, as long as I can touch a mind and heart and soul, it is more than I thought I’d be able to do.”