Hansal Mehta instilled a lot of confidence in me: Chhalaang actor Nushrratt Bharuccha

Chhalaang releases on November 13. (Photo: Nushrratt Bharuccha/Instagram)

Chhalaang marks Nushrratt Bharuccha’s first project with Rajkummar Rao and Hansal Mehta. The actor admits that initially, she felt intimidated by the National Award-winning director. But eventually, under Hansal Mehta’s direction, she learnt a lot about herself and the craft of acting.

Nushrratt spoke to indianexpress.com ahead of the film’s release. Here’s an excerpt from the conversation:

What was your school or college romance like? Did someone ever try to woo you the way Rajkummar does in the film?

I wasn’t that lucky. In fact, I had my heartbroken. My first crush ended up dating my best friend. I was their third wheel for two years.

What was the inspiration for your character?

I took inspiration from the kids. I like children a lot. We had so many kids on the sets. They were amazing. Their energy enhanced my performance.

Neelima (Nushrratt’s character) is a teacher who likes to nurture kids and give them some motivation. I am also similar to her in that aspect.

Rajkummar Rao and Hansal Mehta together have delivered back-to-back critically acclaimed films. Were you nervous in the beginning to become a part of this team?

I must have gone to every person and asked what did they think about my shot. I would ask people to guide me if there is a way to do a scene better. So yeah, I was very nervous.

Like everyone else, I also thought Hansal sir is a very strict and serious filmmaker. I used to think that he is someone who wants his actor to be in the zone of the character all the time and be focussed. On the first day of the shoot, they all played a prank on me, which broke the ice between me and Hansal sir. So, after that, everything was super chill and normal. I don’t remember a day when he came up to me and told me to rehearse a scene more than once. He trusted me with the character and gave me all the freedom to portray the character as per my understanding. He instilled a lot of confidence in me.

The last I spoke to Hansal Mehta about Chhalaang, he called the film a true blue commercial film. How will you describe it?

I would call it a special mix because it has Hansal sir’s world of reality, deep-rooted films which meets Luv Ranjan’s world of humour and commercial masala films.

It is also your first OTT release. How does that feel?

I am just happy that the film is reaching the audience. Yes, theatre has a different feel to it, but the film was ready, and we wanted to release it. So, we adapted to the new circumstances.

Chhalaang will release on November 13. It will stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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