Manisha Koirala shares her many looks as Nargis in Sanju, says she has imbibed her soul

What does it take to play an iconic actor that people remember? The many actors in Sanju – from Ranbir Kapoor who plays Sanjay Dutt to Paresh Rawal who plays Sunil Dutt -- will be answering this question in coming days. For now, Manisha Koirala – who plays actor Nargis Dutt – has revealed her own journey. Sharing many of her looks as Nargis, Manisha wrote, “Many different looks were tried on.. through various photographs and books and documentary.. here are few for you guys.. peep in to what goes on to creat a look..amongst other things we tried many hair styles.”

Talking to PTI, Manisha revealed that more than the way Nargis looked, she has tried to imbibe her soul. “This is new to me. I’ve always been a spontaneous actor. But for Sanju, I did a lot of research on Nargisji. The film focuses on Nargis the doting mother who wanted to protect her son from the truth about her health until his first film was released. Unfortunately, she passed away before her son debut film ‘Rocky’ released. This really broke him,” she said.

She also said that being a cancer survivor herself, it was traumatic for her to live through it again in Sanju, “To live through the pain, trauma and suffering again... It required a lot of inner strength to play Nargisji. But finally it was all worth it, because Nargis was such an iconic figure. I’ve tried to capture her essence, the core of her being. Just looking like her, or combing my hair the way she did, is not enough. I had to understand her spirit, her soul. Just how much I’ve succeeded, we will soon know.”