Sharvari has been trying to get a foothold in the industry for a while now. While the actress was seen in the lead in the Kabir Khan limited series called The Forgotten Army: Azaadi Ke Liye on Amazon Prime Video, she makes her big-screen debut with Bunty Aur Babli 2, sharing screen space with Siddhant Chaturvedi apart from Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji in the film directed by Varun V. Sharma, who has worked as an Assistant Director earlier in some major tentpole Yash Raj bankrolled films like Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai.
It is but obvious that the nervousness has vanished perhaps as slowly as the pandemic is doing now. Sharvari was discovered by YRF two and a half years ago and has been groomed since then. The actor sounds quite optimistic. “This is my first film because I have high expectations from myself, much more than what the audiences would have. It is rather surreal because I was just 16 when I gave my first audition, and it is seven years now, and this is my first film. It has been a long journey, and I am not nervous. I am excited. For the past six years, I have been saying that my film would come this year and it became a joke among my friends too. But now the film is finally seeing the light of the projector and my family including my parents and sister and friends are excited and quite emotional too. I just want the people to feel good and put behind the bad things that happened in the past two years and come and enjoy the film and laugh to their heart’s content,” she rattles off all in one breath.
“The film has a huge leap from the first part. It is a different kind of a sequel. There aren’t any shoes to fill. Rani ma’am is playing her character. I am playing a different character. I have been a big fan of Rani ma’am. And who hasn’t? There is no trying to fit into her shoes. I just need her blessings,” says Sharvari.
It was a lesson of sorts for Sharvari as she came on the sets and realised that she would be working with Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan. “I think Rani ma’am and Saif sir are both textbooks. When you go to school and realise that all the information is in the textbook, that is how I felt. The first time Siddhant and I were to shoot a scene with Rani ma’am and Saif sir, I told him, ‘I really don’t believe that we are going to be standing in the same scene as them.’ But then we got our act together as we knew that we were pitting our wits against them in those scenes, and hence we did the best we could do in the scenes. I think we learnt in a few scenes with them what we can never possibly learn by doing the next four-five films in our career. Of course, we are pitted against them in the film, but we learnt so much from them,” she exults.
Sharvari has had several magic moments in the film – one when she walked out of the sea on the Abu Dhabi beach in a bikini and as herself was reminded of Priyanka Chopra’s stunning gold bikini sequence in Dostana. “I was the happiest person on set the day I shot this scene. The image of Priyanka walking out of the sea in her golden bikini in Dostana is iconic. It was a secret desire as I aspired to do something like that, and my debut film had me do that. I was thrilled and confident to pull this off when I was shooting and was in good shape. I had the best crew to shoot this. I saw my wish come true,” she beams.
Shooting with Siddhant, too, was great fun for Sharvari as one understands from the camaraderie they share. “I was aware of his hydrophobia when we were shooting. We had gone jet skiing and were on a yacht. So once Siddhant had this scene when he had to come up from the water, I was just standing there for support. To be honest, I could not have pulled a shot like that if I had such a phobia. He put in so much hard work, and that is the reason why you feel it is completely effortless. I think throughout the film, we were Bunty and Babli and were one unit. We also had a dance sequence for the song Luv ju, and we had to do a bachata (dance) sequence. Initially, we were stepping on each other’s toes and elbowing each other. But later, we performed well together,” she says.
Before the lockdown, the sets of Tattoo waliye were ready, and the lockdown made sure that the shoot could not happen. But YRF kept the sets standing, and the song is out now as well. “I clearly remember how the shoot came to a standstill because of Covid-19 lockdowns. We were devastated. We had rehearsed so much and were so prepared to kill it on the dance floor. Today, I’m reminded of the happy memories when we could finally shoot again. I remember post-shoot we were very emotional just seeing each other. We had truly missed being on set and were so glad we could bring closure to the film’s shooting experience together. I hope people also come and see the film on November 19,” Sharvari signs off.
(To receive our E-paper on whatsapp daily, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
