Exclusive - Deepika Padukone On Gehraiyaan Intimacy: You Have To Approach It Like Action Or Dance Sequences

Siddhant Chaturvedi and Deepika Padukone in Gehraiyaan

She is the one known to always push the boundaries as far as work is concerned. Whether it is starting out as a model and then making a successful career in the movies as an actress and now producer, Deepika Padukone doesn't fail to surprise us. She speaks her mind and also lets her actions speak louder. Deepika has surprised her fans yet again with a delicate portrayal of intimacy in her new film Gehraiyaan, in which she stars with relative newbies Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa.

It is probably the first time in Indian cinema or in Bollywood that such natural-looking kissing and intimate scenes have been shown, as we can see in the Gehraiyaan trailer and the songs. Much has been said and written about these scenes of Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi. The other actors also have such scenes in the film. Deepika and Siddhant as well as the Gehraiyaan intimacy director Dar Gai and the film's director Shakun Batra have spoken about the process of filming these scenes in a professional manner. We at Filmibeat spoke to Deepika Padukone in an exclusive chat for Gehraiyaan in which we tried to bring forth her thought process while shooting intimate scenes and how she approaches them. Excerpts:

Before signing a film, do you look at what kind of intimate scenes there are in the script and if they are needed or not? Do you discuss it with the director or the scriptwriter? Is it in your mind?

Siddhant Chaturvedi and Deepika Padukone in Gehraiyaan 2

Sticking to talking about Gehraiyaan, Deepika Padukone replied, "Honestly, if it weren't for a director like Shakun (Batra), I probably wouldn't have signed up for a film like this. Because I know that someone like him is extremely intelligent and sensitive when it comes to these things. Intimacy in this film is not there to titillate or excite the audience. It's there because it's just a natural...it's as honest to these characters and to this film as any other part of the film. So, there is inherent trust that I have in Shakun, which is why I didn't even have to... Of course, we discussed it. (But) The discussion was not before signing the film - ke main yeh karoongi, itna karoongi (I will only do this). We didn't have that kind of conversation."

"Of course, we knew that we were going to showcase intimacy or love-making or whatever you call it, in a very different way as compared to how we've seen in Hindi films historically - that was a conversation we had. But at the same time, my decision to do this film was not based on that. I agreed to do the film because I had immense trust in Shakun and his vision."

"We were never made to do things we were not comfortable doing"

Deepika and Siddhant in Gehraiyaan 3

Deepika went on to add, "And then, of course, at a later stage when we were doing our workshops, etc., we would talk about it. We just wanted to make sure that me and Sid (Siddhant) and everyone were comfortable doing it. But neither was it so much of a discussion. We were never made to do things we were not comfortable doing."

"Approach intimate scenes like action or dance sequences"

Siddhant and Deepika kiss in Gehraiyaan

Deepika then let her secret out as to how she approaches such scenes. "The thing is that," she said, "You have to approach it like the way you would do action or the way you would do dance rehearsals. The way you would have song and dance and action sequences and rehearsals. Intimacy is pretty much the same thing. It's been happening in the west for years. It's just that in India it's a new concept."

What Deepika said at the Gehraiyaan trailer launch

Deepika and Sid in Gehraiyaan

At the Gehraiyaan trailer launch on January 20 also, Deepika had revealed, "Shakun gave me and all of us the comfort; you feel safe and secure because intimacy is not easy. It is not something that we ever experienced or explored in Indian cinema before in a way we have in this film. So, to go down that route of intimacy and vulnerability is possible when you know the director is not doing it for eyeballs."

Deepika had said that her character of Alisha in Gehraiyaan is "bold" but "raw and real". She also said that She had said, "I have not done something like this before. I have done films and a lot of characters that are love stories or relationship dramas...my character in Gehraiyaan is bold. I also don't want to say bold because...the way we understood bold in our films and the characters that we've seen. So, I'd say raw. This character is a lot more raw and real than some of the other characters that I have played."

Sid and Deepika on a yacht

"Emotionally, it is completely stripped and naked in that sense, and completely vulnerable. I think to be able to do that on screen, it has to come from a very deep place. It is not to say that I haven't experienced that before. But, not to this extent, where I have to really dig deep and go to the places that aren't really pleasant experiences from my own life," she had said.

Gehraiyaan releases on Amazon Prime Video on February 11, 2022. Watch this space for the review of Gehraiyaan.

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