Skill set: Tara Sutaria learns sign language
Nowadays, actors often go out of the way to acquire skills that help them portray roles effectively. Tara Sutaria is the latest to join the list. The young actor, who plays a mute girl in her next, Marjaavaan, learned sign language “for a few months” before she started filming. Interestingly, her training with a sign language coach, Sangeeta Gala, started while she was working on her debut film, Student of The Year 2.
“Nowadays, it has become extremely important for actors to completely understand, and delve into the characters they’re playing. So, I’m lucky that I could spend those many months learning sign language with Sangeeta ma’am. The experience was amazing because she is a fantastic trainer,” says Tara. Gala, in the past, has worked on several movies such as Black (2005), Guzaarish (2010) and Barfi (2012) among others. Tara says she took the decision to learn the sign language “as soon as Milap (Milan Zaveri; director) narrated the script to me”. “The moment he delved inside my character, I knew it would be required of me to learn sign language. And it’s amazing that I could learn it, not just for the film’s scenes but in general too,” she says.
The actor says Marjaavaan is “only my second film, but surely, the best one that I could have asked for.” Adding that she is grateful to the makers for casting her in such a “challenging and interesting part”, Tara is “absolutely thrilled”. She says: “I have worked really hard, and am happy to have picked up sign language to communicate in the film. Now, I hope people like my performance.”