I couldn’t relate to my character in ‘Sikandar’: Ayesha Kapoor

She earned rave reviews for her performance as a blind and deaf girl in the critically acclaimed “Black”, but 14-year-old Ayesha Kapoor says she wasn’t able to relate to her character of a conservative Kashmiri girl in her latest film “Sikandar”.

“It was hard for me to relate to my character in the film since I’m a completely different in real life. Nasreen, my character, is conservative. That’s the opposite of me,” Ayesha told IANS.

“From a very young age, I have lived in an international community. My friends are from all over the world. I get to meet people from different cultures. That’s made me quite modern. Also, I am half German, so my thinking is very different,” she added.

Directed by Piyush Jha, “Sikandar” released Friday and has got mixed reviews. In the film, Ayesha plays protagonist Parzaan Dastur’s best friend Nasreen.

Ayesha says another problem was that she isn’t fluent in Hindi and had to really work on her dialogues. She had to do quite a lot of preparations to make her character look real in the movie, which also stars R. Madhavan and Sanjay Suri.

“We did quite a few preparations for me to get the hang of my character. I attended a workshop in Delhi. That time for me it was mainly working on the lines and also understanding how a Kashmiri school girl would walk and talk and how she wears her dupatta…all those nitty-gritties,” the young actress explained.

“Also to understand things better, I went to Kashmir a week earlier than the shooting schedule. I visited the schools there and interacted with school girls to understand things,” she added.

The film revolves around teenage boy Sikandar Raza (Parzan), who dreams of playing football at the national level, but his life changes when he finds a gun lying on the road. Despite warnings from Nasreen, he picks up the gun and his life is never the same again - he enters into the darker side of his nature.

So, would Ayesha like to pursue acting as a full-fledged career later in life?

“Acting is a passion for me. I love to be in front of the camera. I really hope in the future I can continue acting and get good opportunities,” Ayesha said.

Asked how she got interested in acting at such a young age, Ayesha said it came to her naturally.

“Acting has come naturally to me. I never did any acting classes. I never even tried to get into movies. Everything just happened. I feel…something when it’s meant to be, it will just happen, that’s how I believe films and me happened,” she said.

“It’s so strange that I literally lived in the middle of the jungle, in the south of India. Nobody had heard of me before in any way. Then Sanjay Leela Bhansali just came across a picture of mine and somehow he liked me and then called me up. I went to Mumbai and had a small audition. I was on (for ‘Black) and it changed so much for me. It was destiny,” Ayesha added.

BLACK girl Ayesha Kapoor returns with SIKANDAR

Truthfully Ayesha Kapoor tells you she doesn’t watch too many Bollywood movies and doesn’t know any Hindi.

So when for her second film Sikandar she had to speak in Hindi and Urdu, she found an easy way out. “It was tough. For Black I didn’t have to speak at all. Back home in Auroville I got myself a Hindi coach.”

But Ayesha did something unheard of to master the lines. “I memorized the entire script, all my speaking lines in Sikandar. I realized there wasn’t enough time to learn Hindi, so I just memorized my entire part, all the lines. It was like a guy who speaks in Marathi learning French. I agree it was audacious. I don’t know how I did it.”

The Black girl and the Saawariya guy Ranbir Kapoor have more in common than their surnames and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

“Ranbir Kapoor was assisting Sanjay during Black. And he really helped me. He worked with me, got me tapes and research material to understand how a blind and deaf girl behaves. Ranbir was really helpful. Thanks to him I was well prepared to face the camera. I wasn’t afraid. I went for it and I did it. I met such great artistes.”

She pauses to remember the Black days. “Sadly we didn’t really keep in touch. That’s understandable,” she says with a solemnity belying her 14 years. “Working with people like Amitabh Bachchan and Shernaz Patel in my very first film really matured me. I got to see so much at 9, which my friends hadn’t experienced. Thankfully, my friends treated me normally. I live in Auroville and most people there don’t recognize me. Which is fine. It has kept me normal. I don’t make a big deal about going to Mumbai for my acting assignment.”

And now when Ayesha will make her debut as a leading lady in the near future she’d like nothing better than to debut with Ranbir.

Her second film Sikandar comes 4 years after Black. “When I read the script I wanted to be in it. When I do a film it has to be something I’m comfortable with. But the biggest incentive was shooting in Kashmir. What a beautiful place. The people there were so welcoming. I had a great time. I play this simple Kashmiri schoolgirl. Not dramatic at all like Black.”

She would love to do a comedy. But is not sure if acting is in the only thing she will do later in life.

“I’m only 14. I love acting. But I’ve a lot of different passions. I’ve been riding horses since 2. Then there’s school and I love to travel twice a year with my parents. I also love to write. I don’t want to give up on that. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I get a role where I can ride horses and play a writer?”

Ayesha will choose very carefully. “I want to wait and see. I’m not hurrying anything. Even Black just happened to me. I’m thankful to Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Then Piyush Jha came all the way to my home and signs me for Sikandar. He didn’t ask me to speak the lines in Hindi. He knew I couldn’t. But he still believed in me. He believed I could get by just memorizing the lines. He only covered my head with a scarf and took pictures of me as I expressed various emotions.”

Ayesha wants to be a leading lady after a few years. “I’d love to work with Ranbir Kapoor. In fact I’d love to meet him again. It’s been ages.”