A LOT OF SCRUTINY TODAY AS A MOVIE STAR: SARA
WIt’s challenging to try and make a place for yourself in an industry where you have barely started off, and people think you are being served everything on a platter as you belong to an illustrious family. Sara Ali Khan, with her debut film Kedarnath (2018), managed to shut down all such naysayers.
The 25-year-old completes two years as an actor in Bollywood, and already has three released films under her belt. Talking about her process of choosing projects, Khan asserts, “I don’t choose my films; my films choose me. I’ve been very lucky that so early in my career I got to work with directors who I am not in a position to choose. Meri aukaat nahi hai ki main Rohit Shetty (director of 2018 film Simmba) ya Aanand L Rai (director of upcoming film Atrangi Re) ko chunungi. Voh mujhe chunenge.”
She adds, “All I will say is that my dream, and the reason I became an actor in the first place, is to experience and portray emotions and situations that I wouldn’t be able to in my own life.”
Hoping for “versatility and diversity” in her career, the actor tells us that she’s looking forward to “working with different kind of filmmakers and doing different genre of films”.
We ask Khan what she feels is the most challenging part about being a movie star in today’s age, in her experience navigating through the showbiz world, and she doesn’t hesitate to reply: “I think it’s not about challenging. The one thing that’s both an advantage and disadvantage in its own way is that there is a lot of scrutiny in today’s day and age. While social media presence has given us a lot more reach, fans and well wishers, it has also given us a lot more people that we are, for the lack of a better word, answerable to,” the actor explains.
She considers this enhanced reach and visibility as a “slightly dangerous territory”. “Especially under the guise of anonymity, you don’t know who your critics are. Veterans who write, one has a lot of respect for them, but a ‘robot18’ abusing you [on social media], you are like, ‘Really, what the hell?’ I don’t like that,” elaborates Khan, whose next film will release on a streaming platform. ith hits such as Veere (Veere Di Wedding; 2018) and Kaise Hua (Kabir Singh; 2019), among others, singer-composer Vishal Mishra has managed to carve a niche for himself in the industry. His motivation to do better, he says, comes from his fans. “You’ve to have the responsibility to create something honest. Good and bad is a perception, but being honest is an intent and I keep a check on it,” he says.
Was the lockdown, then, an advantage for him as a musician? “It is debatable,” he says, adding, “Musicians are human beings; they are as vulnerable as any other person. But there are not many things happening in the world [right now].
When you listen to a song, the reason you like it is that it relates to something you aspire or something you don’t have in life. So in these difficult times, music is a calm feeling.”
Record labels have been facing flak of late for promoting a set of artistes. But the 28-year-old believes that they’re only trying to help. “Record labels are absolutely a boon for musicians. Anybody who is helping you do better in life is a boon. There has to be a sense of professionalism in anything you do,” feels Mishra, who is undeterred by the raging debate on favouritism in the music industry. “I make sure I’m making music that keeps me happy. What happens outside my studio is not my concern,” he asserts.