Hyderabad: Actors Dhanush and Akshara Haasan were in the city on Saturday to promote their upcoming film Shamitabh. The two tell us that this “practically difficult film left them with no time to have fun, but to shoot and sleep”.
The fun side of Dhanush
At the press conference, actor Dhanush had the mediapersons in splits, right from the first question about his new, cool dapper look in Shamitabh. “I have done nothing, ask my makeup artists and hairstylists how they transformed me. I would just sit back and let them make me… what’s the word you just used? ‘dapper’.”
The next question about his Hindi, from the days of Raanjhanaa to now Shamitabh, was met with the similar candidness. “In Raanjhanaa, I had to speak UP Hindi. In Shamitabh, I am speaking Bambaiyya Hindi. It’s Hindi at the end of the day, right? A language that I anyways don’t know. It doesn’t make any difference to me. So, I mug up whatever is given. I can admit ‘I speak Tamil, I try English… and, Hindi, can’t say,” laughs Dhanush.
But how much Hindi did he speak in the film, as Amitabh Bachchan is giving him voice in the film? He says, “What are you saying? I have two pages of dialogues in the film. Even if Big B is my voice in the film, I have to recite the lines to match him, right?”
When asked “Will you sing again, like a Kolaveri Di”? He jumped to answer, “No. Never Kolaveri Di. I am very bored of this song. “
And, how does he handle pre-release jitters? “I am always calm, but my wife Aishwarya does get worked up, not during the release but when I am travelling. The whole schedule at home changes.”
Will he be willing to act opposite her wife ever? His eyes lit up: “Why not? Definitely. At least then I will have the answer to your question ‘The chemistry between you and your co-star is amazing? How’. I can say, ‘Of course, she is my wife, right?’ I am waiting for that day. (laughs). But I’m not sure if my sons would be okay with it!”
He is also waiting to act with father-in-law Rajinikanth. “Even if I just get to share screen space with him, I will be thankful.”
The calm and cool Akshara Haasan
Back-to-back interviews, photoshoots and multi-city tours to promote a film tend to get on the nerves of many actors, but not for Akshara Haasan. “These promotions are working well for me, distracting me from the fact that I have my first film releasing next week. I get jitters (thinking about the release)… I tend to fool around a lot to distract myself.”
“The work is calming me down,” she continues, “I feel I have become a better person after the film. I have overcome my stage fright. I feel more confident.”
At this point, she recounts how flustered she would get if she didn’t get a scene right, “There were these two-three scenes, first with Dhanush, then with Mr Bachchan and then with Dhanush again. I would just not get those scenes right, I would be so sad and frustrated. I was like ‘Dude, I was getting it right during rehearsals, what’s wrong now?’… Then, at times I would call mom at night, ‘Mom, wake up, I need to sort this out. I can’t sleep’,” says Akshara.
The actor also reveals that she made sure her family mom Sarika, dad Kamal Haasan and sister Shruti didn’t show up during the shooting at all. “I get very conscious performing in front of them,” she says.
