The much-awaited historical love saga, Bajirao Mastani, is set to release on 18 December 2015. Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh speak about the intense preparation, their experience of working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) and their takeaways from the film.
Q: The film is based on an important chapter of Indian history. What was the kind of preparation you had to undergo?
R: I went into semi-isolation for the first three weeks. I worked all morning on the physique, all afternoon on the accent and all evening on the research material. I worked on a new voice, a new posture, a way of walking and talking for this distinctive character. I did not want people to see Ranveer the actor on screen but Peshwa Bajirao.
D: My preparation was not as difficult. I was juggling Piku and Tamasha at the same time and most of my preparation was mental in order to cope up with all three. I thought Mastani was a very layered and inspirational character. I talk to myself a lot in my mind on how I want to play the character. I prefer not to prep too much and rely on being spontaneous.
Q: After Ram-Leela, this is the second time you are both working with SLB who has been waiting for 12 years to make this film. Tell us about your experience with him.
D: There is tremendous creative satisfaction when working with SLB. He pushes you till you discover new things about yourself. It is the perfect acting workshop. He has complete faith in you and makes you feel invincible. He never over directs and gives you freedom to interpret and play your character.
R: Mr. Bhansali is a true cinematic genius. He is so vivacious, exhilarated and energised. The passion in the man was palpable and infectious. The entire crew was so charged up about the shoot that we put all our blood, sweat and tears into it. You could see just how happy he was that the film was finally being made.
Q: You were both playing real-life historical characters. How easy or difficult was it?
D: For me, it was very difficult. We have just one pictorial reference of Mastani and there is not much written about her as much as Bajirao. It’s really tricky because you’re going by a book or a historian’s work and in the process also making a commercial entertainer. So a lot of her look is what Sanjay Sir and I felt was correct for the character on the basis of the material we had and what we felt was right on that particular day for that particular scene.
R: Bajirao Mastani is an interpretation of the book ‘Peshwe Gharanyacha Itihaas’ by Pramod Oak. My role relied on the information in our research material and I stuck to the film script. We have to read between the lines and some of it is imagination. But one has to establish the fact that it is a fictional interpretation of this book.
Q:What differences do you see in Ranveer after doing Ram-Leela together?
D: I think Ranveer has mellowed down now, he is much calmer. He has a better hold of his craft today than two years ago when we worked together.
Q: Anecdotes from the time you shot the action scenes?
R: We had hundreds of horses on the set. I had one of the best ones called Aryan and had a very beautiful relationship with him. I used to feed him Parle-G biscuits. We got very close and when I broke my shoulder, he had the presence of mind to avoid his hooves hitting my head. I was out of action for two and a half months but made a speedy recovery. There are a lot of high octane action sequences very methodically worked out on the technical level. I am looking forward to the audience’s reactions.
Q: How do you identify with the characters?
D: There are a lot of qualities in Mastani that I find in most women today who are faced with different kinds of challenges. I think women are born to multi task. Mastani fought a battle as easily as she cooked in the kitchen. She is identifiable for me because she was very strong - mentally, physically and emotionally. Though she fought as well as the men, she was also vulnerable, a romantic, a lover, a nurturer, a mother. All these things make her extremely inspiring.
R: It was a very emotionally intense experience. I often had to tap into my emotional memory, some places where I usually don’t go, in order to bring the emotion out on the screen. Doing that was a very cathartic experience. I was also in an emotional funk when I broke my shoulder and was out of action for two and a half months. I took that and pumped it all into the performance. Hopefully the audience likes it.
