‘Ek baar ek ladki ko dono mil jaayenge toh kya aafat aa jayegi,' screams Sara Ali Khan in the upcoming film Atrangi Re. The dialogue initiated a frenzy on social media. While some hailed it 'bold' and discussed it being a new feminist movement of sorts, there were some who contested the thought behind it. However, for Sara Ali Khan and filmmaker Anand L Rai, this is solely about the innocence of the actress' character Rinku.
“At least for me, this is not a feminist movement," said Sara, who plays Rinku Sooryavanshi. She is a gutsy young woman who doesn’t want to let go of either Akshay Kumar or Dhanush. She desires both of them to be with her.
Sara clarifies that this particular dialogue is not about a message of empowerment or notion to change society. “This is not a protest. I don’t think we’re trying to take a societal stand. It is about everybody, whether it’s a guy or a girl. Rinku just happens to be a girl. It’s about love, wanting love and being honest and innocent. The one thing that Aanand Ji was very clear about is no matter what lines I’m saying including ‘ek baar ek ladki ko dono mil jaayenge toh kya aafat aa jayegi’— there’s no insolence in that; there’s no entitlement; there’s only innocence in the way she’s saying that," the actress said.
Echoing similar sentiments, the filmmaker said this convoluted and complex love triangle is just a layer of the film, there is much more to it. "This dialogue talks about emotions more than dictating Rinku's rights or strengths. In no way I'm saying that women of our country are suppressed or anything similar to this. For me, in these changing times, you can't differentiate in terms of gender," he said.
While most of the actors undergo rigorous training to get into the skin of their character, Rinku's element came naturally to Sara. Talking about her process to get into the skin of the character, Sara said, “Through the process of making this film, I fell in love with Rinku. I stopped judging her and I fully started to understand her. It was halfway through our schedule where Aanand ji told me, that I have now become Rinku. He told me that even if I don’t perform to the T, now I will not do wrong because I have understood Rinku."
Sara shared that is the first for her when while exploring a character she found more about her. "I understood Sara better through Rinku. On the face, she appears to be very bold, confident and assertive but somewhere inside she's scared of things and is innocent. I didn't know that I'm also like that. It's Anand Ji who showed me the similarities."
Atrangi Re explores more than one aspect of life. It is a cross-cultural drama set in Bihar and Madurai. While Sara plays a feisty girl from Bihar, Dhanush portrays the role of a Tamilian student. Talking about language barriers and how Dhanush made things comfortable for her, Sara was all praise for her co-star.
“I’ve learned one thing from Dhanush Sir that language is not as important as emotions and language of the eye. He and I would often read the script in English. Some people might think that it’s of no use because it’s a Hindi film, but it’s important. Because I could understand his emotion and intention better that way," she said.
Further, the actress tagged Anand L Rai and her co-stars as 'spontaneous people'. "I think the one thing that I feel Aanand Ji, Dhanush Sir and Akshay Sir have is that they are very spontaneous people. So, once I understood my character, all I actually had to do was trust Aanand Ji and live in that moment. There was no such method."
Atrangi Re can be streamed on Disney+ Hotstar from Dec 24.
