Bastar OTT Release EXCLUSIVE: Adah Sharma Reveals If She Had Expectations About Audience Response After The Ke

Bastar: The Naxal Story OTT Release: Adah Sharma's hard-hitting film on Naxalism in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district has premiered online on ZEE5. The Bollywood diva, who made waves last year with The Kerala Story, interacted with Filmibeat on a variety of topics related to her latest film.

1. What were your initial expectations regarding the audience response to Bastar, given the success of Kerala Story and your collaboration with the same filmmakers?

When the Kerala story released I was shocked that there were few people objecting to it and i still am so confused as to why would anyone oppose a film which is saying terrorism is bad, why would anyone not want to support women who are coming out with their stories of rape. However it was good to know that the majority of people worldwide supported the film and made it the highest grossing female lead film of all time. With Bastar I don't feel the film had released. People in Pune and a lot of other places messaged saying there is one show at 7 am in a mall in an interior place 2 hrs from my house. My friends in London and USA had theatres showing one odd time one show and far away theatres 3 hrs away from where they lived. My mom and granny watched the film at a 9 am show . I believe every film has its own destiny . But for me Bastar releases on zee 5 on the 17th of May and thanks to zee we can now go to people's homes and they can watch the film.

2. As an actor, how do you navigate the portrayal of characters who are morally complex and have both positive and negative attributes?

In Sunflower I played a negative character. That was also fun as an actor. Sunflower was fictional. The Kerala story and Bastar were based on true stories. I started with a horror film 1920. Which was again fiction ..I enjoy doing both. It's about how convincing you can be at that moment when you are in front of the camera of you can believe you are not you and you are the person you are pretending to be .

3. Looking back, what do you think were the most fulfilling aspects of working on this project? And is there is one thing you had to change what would it be?

To be part of a project where i could play a character of someone from our Indian army, representing our CRPF jawans is an honour. Also the quality of putting others before yourself and being ready to sacrifice your life for your country .
Something i would change if I could is if the film got a chance for audiences to watch it in theatres.

4. What message do you hope viewers take away from Bastar: The Naxal Story when they watch it on ZEE5?

Satyameva jayate. It might take some time but in the end The truth always wins"