Actor Soha Ali Khan, who is busy promoting her upcoming film, 31st October, says that she chose to be a part of the film because it is content driven. “The character has a lot of scopes to perform and I get to act. It’s an emotional and intense role and there’s a lot happening. (Also) the story is centred on us, so that was quite exciting,” says Soha, who plays a Sikh woman in the film based on Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
Clarifying that the film has not been politicised in any way, the actor adds, “We are in the business of entertainment and films are not a history lesson for anyone. We are just telling the story of this Delhi-based Sikh family’s struggle who survived the night of riots through an action suspense drama.”
31st October releases on the same date (October 7) as Mirzya, which features newbies Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher. While box office clashes tend to worry a lot of stars, Soha doesn’t have any such apprehensions. “My job as an actor is done on my last day of the shoot and when I finish dubbing for the film. The rest is my responsibility to promote the film. But selecting the release date and marketing and distributing the film is not my job and I have no control over it. Anyway, it’s difficult to get a solo release, it’s almost impossible unless it’s a very big film,” says the 37-year-old.
She adds, “Sometimes you get lost with several smaller films releasing on the same date, but we have avoided that successfully. Then, it’s of course for the audience to decide based on promo and poster which film they want to watch. I’m sure there’s an appetite to see two movies if you feel they are worth your time. Some people wait for reviews and word your mouth, so it’s yet to be seen.”
Interestingly, Soha has very few dialogues in the film yet she manages to make a mark with her screen presence. On being asked if she took Punjabi language lessons, the actor says, “It’s a Hindi film set in Delhi, though we still tried to bring in a little bit of Punjabi flavour, which comes anyway with the clothing, style and little bit of accent I speak in. Since it’s mainly about action and what’s happening around me, I didn’t have the opportunity to have long dialogues.”
COURTESY HINDUSTAN TIMES
