Why wait when you could have easily done another film with dance numbers?
Nobody was offering me any naach-gaana films. I was waiting for it. I thought initially before every film that maybe with Aashiqui 2, Ek Villain or Haider, I will get a chance to show off my dancing skills. But they were not those kind of films. Today, I am happy I got to be a part of good films anyway. My patience finally paid off when I got ABCD 2. I hope people now take me seriously as a dancer.
But today there are also films being made, devoid of all the naach-gaana…
That can never happen! No one can take naach-gaana out of Bollywood. Yes, even though people are trying to make different films in different spaces with different formats. Haider didn’t have naach-gaana. Even in films like Baby and NH10, there were songs used as montages or promotional ones during the end credits.
You have Baaghi and Rock On!! 2 lined up. Is it a conscious move to try different genres?
Most definitely. I want to keep reinventing myself with everything. I have got 7 million-plus views for Sun Saathiya (from ABCD2). The kind of messages I get on Twitter, the kind of reactions I get from people I meet, are priceless. People might have questioned, ‘Will Shraddha be able to do it?’ Even I had questioned myself. But when the final product came out, it made me really happy. That’s the endeavour… to keep doing different things which are more challenging.
Your movies are usually very relatable. Do you think it helps people connect more with your films?
Probably it has a big hand to play in it. In all my films, I have played the common woman. Now coming to think of it, I feel it is the biggest reason why audiences have connected with the past three films I have done. In ABCD 2, I come from Nallasopara, so I am a middle-class woman. I am the common man’s heroine (laughs). Maybe that identification factor makes people come to the theatre to watch my films.
Anything you want to do outside movies?
We are always in the limelight, but from the choreographers to the light guys, set guys, to the assistants to DOPs, no one likes to interview them. They make it all possible for us but no one talks about them. I would like to do a documentary and shoot that, maybe.
INTERVIEW by DNA
