‘Sonam Has The Energy Of A 20 Year Old’

‘On
this
happy
occasion,
I
wish
Sonam
more
work
and
another
National
Award.’

A
decade
ago,
on
April
19,
2015,
Sonam
Kapoor
embarked
on
a
journey
with

Neerja.

The
biographical
drama,
which
released
the
following
year
on
February
16,
relives
purser
Neerja
Banot’s
last
flight
aboard
Pan
Am
73
when,
on
September
5,
1986,
four
terrorists
of
the
Libyan-based
terrorist
group
Abu
Nidal,
attempt
to
hijack
the
ill-fated
plane
enroute
to
New
York
during
a
stopover
at
Karachi’s
Jinnah
international
airport.

Neerja
died
two
days
before
her
birthday,
managing
to
save
359
of
the
379
passengers
on
board,
including
the
three
children
she
took
bullets
for.

She
was
honoured
posthumously
with
the
Ashok
Chakra
while

Neerja
was
adjudged
‘Best
Feature
Film
in
Hindi’
at
the
64th
National
Film
Awards
with
Sonam’s
performance
in
the
title
role
getting
her
a
‘Special
Mention’.

On
Sonam’s
40th
birthday
on
June
9,
the
film’s
director

Ram
Madhvani
tells


Rediff
Senior
Contributor

Roshmila
Bhattacharya,
“Today,
Sonam
turns
40,which
I
say
is
20
multiplied
by
two
because
she
still
has
the
energy
of
a
20
year
old.”

‘It’s
rare
for
an
actor
to
get
to
play
a
role
that
is
perfectly
suited
to
them’

It
was
Atul
(Kasbekar,
Producer),
who
spoke
to
Sonam
first
and
approached
her
for

Neerja
even
before
we
were
ready
with
the
script.

I
was
happy
when
he
told
me
that
she
had
evinced
interest
in
the
project
because
even
then,
I
was
convinced
she
had
the
right
look
and
demeanour
to
play
Neerja
and
it’s
rare
for
an
actor
to
get
to
play
a
role
that
is
perfectly
suited
to
them.

I
met
her
for
the
first
time
when
she
came
with
us
to
Chandigarh
to
meet
the
Bhanot
family.

We
took
the
blessings
of
her
mother
(Rama
Bhanot),
her
brothers
(Akhil
and
Aneesh
Bhanot)
and
the
others
who
were
there.

It
was
nice
to
see
how
homely
Sonam
was
and
how
comfortably
she
fit
into
Neerja’s
family.

My
first
impression
of
her
was
that
she
is
somebody
for
whom
the
family
will
always
come
first
and
this
has
to
do
with
her
own
family
and
upbringing,
the
value
system
she
believes
in.

After
this,
it
took
us
a
year-and-a-half
with
Saiwyn
Quadras
who
wrote
the
story
and
screenplay,
and
Sanyukhta
Chawla
Shaikh
who
penned
the
dialogue,
to
finalise
the
script.

We
would
constantly
read
out
the
script
to
Sonam
as
it
developed
and
I
was
delighted
when
she
eventually
said
yes
and
came
on
board.

‘I
was
so
moved
by
the
way
Sonam
spontaneously
started
crying’

She
has
a
great
world
view,
knows
her
European
cinema
and
reads
a
lot.
Consequently,
she
could
embrace
the
way
I
shoot
my
movies.

I
use
three-four
cameras
at
a
time
and
don’t
use
lights.

In
this
film,
I
also
insisted
on
keeping
the
four
actors
who
play
the
hijackers
—
Ali
Baldiwala
as
Mansoor,
Vikrant
Singta
as
Fahad,
Abrar
Zahoor
as
Zayd
and
Jim
Sarbh
as
Khalil
—
from
meeting
the
crew
and
the
passengers
till
the
day
of
the
shoot.

They
lived
in
different
hotels
and
even
rehearsed
separately,
meeting
the
passengers
and
the
crew
for
the
first
time
on
the
flight.

In
fact,
the
four
terrorists
had
not
even
seen
the
inside
of
the
plane
till
then.

This
is
not
your
usual
way
of
filming,
but
I
wanted
to
escalate
the
antagonism
between
them.

For
me
as
a
director
to
capture
that
energy,
my
lead
actress
had
to
be
comfortable,
confident
and
sure,
completely
embrace
what
I
call
my
‘System
360’,
which
Sonam
did,
easily
and
beautifully.

There
is
a
scene
in
the
film
where
in
the
midst
of
the
hijack,
when
the
danger
to
the
passengers
and
the
crew
is
escalating,
Neerja
opens
an
envelope
given
to
her
by
her
boyfriend
Jaideep,
played
by
Shekhar
Ravjiani.

As
she
reads
the
letter
in
which
he
opens
his
heart,
she
has
to
eat
the
chocolate
biscuit
accompanying
it,
symbolic
of
her
accepting
his
love,
something
which
Jaideep
will
never
learn.

While
we
were
filming
the
scene,
I
was
so
moved
by
the
way
Sonam
spontaneously
started
crying
while
reading
the
letter
that
I
called
for
‘Cut’
and
she
had
to
remind
me
that
she
was
meant
to
eat
the
biscuit
too.

We
had
to
reshoot
the
scene
and
it
was
amazing
how
she
did
it
once
more
with
the
same
feeling
and
this
time,
when
she
was
eating
the
chocolate
biscuit,
I
felt
like
I
was
seeing
a
master
at
work.

‘She
has
an
excellent
memory’

Sonam
had
begun
her
career
as
an
assistant
director
(on
Sanjay
Leela
Bhansali’s
2005
film
Black)
and
on

Neerja‘s
set,
she
was
a
great
help
as
a
first
AD
too.

As
an
actress,
she
was
a
revelation.

I
shoot
very
long
takes,
and
before
the
interaction
with
the
four
terrorists,
I
went
to
her
make-up
van
to
brief
her,
explaining
that
they
have
infiltrated
the
airport
disguised
as
security
officers
escorting
a
Libyan
diplomat.

As
they
rush
the
plane,
armed
with
grenades
and
AK-47s,
she
is
notified
and
without
even
meeting
them,
she
tries
to
stop
them
by
alerting
the
three
American
pilots
in
the
cockpit
who
escape
through
the
overhead
hatch
of
the
Boeing
747
while
she
returns
to
the
cabin
determined
to
save
the
situation.

It
was
a
long
scene.

She
listened
to
me
attentively,
processing
everything
that
I
was
saying
and
during
the
shoot,
and
remembered
everything
I
had
detailed,
including
her
lines.

She
has
an
excellent
memory.

‘On
this
happy
occasion,
I
wish
her
more
work
and
another
National
Award’

I
have
a
huge
regard
for
Sonam’s
fashion
sense.

It
is
not
put
on;
it
comes
naturally
to
her.

She
uses
clothes
as
a
statement
and
sometimes
even
as
armour,
carrying
off
clothes
with
great
panache
which
came
in
very
handy
while
we
were
marketing
the
film.

When
we
were
going
for
the
trailer
launch,
she
called
me
to
say
sweetly,
‘Ram,
it’s
going
to
be
quite
hot
with
all
the
lights,
so
remember
to
carry
your
handkerchief.’

That’s
Sonam,
with
all
her
gentleness
and
kindness!

She’s
a
voracious
reader,
which
gives
her
a
world
view
and
sets
her
apart.

Today,
she
turns
40,
which
I
say
is
20
multiplied
by
two
because
she
still
has
the
energy
of
a
20
year
old.

On
this
happy
occasion,
I
wish
her
more
work
and
another
National
Award.

I
want
to
see
her
grow
from
strength
to
strength
with
the
roles
she
plays
and
go
on
to
have
as
long
a
career
as
her
father,
Anil
Kapoor,
has
had,
maybe
even
longer.