To prepare for her look and diction in the pre-partition drama Kalank, actor Alia Bhatt turned to classic films such as Mughal-E-Azam, Umrao Jaan and hit Pakistani drama Zindagi Gulzar Hai. Alia said her director, Abhishek Varman told her to watch the show, which featured her Kapoor & Sons co-star Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed, reported DNA.
“I watched a lot of old films like ‘Mughal-E-Azam‘ and ‘Umrao Jaan‘ to get an understanding of grace and body language. (And) I had to clean my Hindi as I am speaking Urdu (in the film). Abhishek asked me to watch ‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai’. The character of the girl (Kashaf played by Sanam Saeed) in the show is very much how Roop will deal with the situation. She has responsibility on her shoulders so she is not always a happy person. She is vulnerable yet strong. It is difficult (to bring so many) layers – unhappy, vulnerable and strong to a character. Abhishek kept saying that I should be irritating,” Alia told PTI in an interview.
Alia first heard the story of Kalank from Karan Johar while she was promoting her debut film, Student of the Year in 2012. “He had mentioned about the story in passing when we were promoting Student of the Year. But the story was different at that time. Later, I heard it from Abhishek and he said he was adapting the film in his own way. After many months, I realised Abhishek had written this role keeping me in mind. The process of this film coming to me was very organic,” she said.
