Sanjeeda Ali Shaikh: I wanted to do a character that had substance

Recently, a lot of artists from different fields have been boarding the P-town bus and television fame

Sanjeeda Ali Shaikh

is one of them.

Sanjeeda

made her Pollywood debut with ‘

Ashke

’ last week and in the same, she shared the screen space with Punjabi singer-actor Amrinder Gill. In a recent interview with TimesOfIndia.com, the actress opened up about her experience in Pollywood, cleared the air around the speculations that were doing the rounds around ‘Ashke’ and lot more. Here are the excerpts from the interview.


Though it is the small screen that fetched Sanjeeda a lot of fame, the 70MM isn’t new to her. She has done a couple of Hindi and Tamil movies; nonetheless, Pollywood was happening for the first time to her. Talking about the same, she said, “Though it was a completely new field, it appeared to be the same. But talking on the grounds of creativity, the people are very intelligent here. I remember walking on the sets without any prior preparation, in fact without a script. I asked the producer and other members for the script as the language was completely alien to me, but they simply said, you just come on the set. When I reached there, I understood that it was all about creative spontaneity.”

Elaborating further about her character ‘Jiya’, she said that it was easy for her to connect with the role, as she was asked to be just herself. “The way I am in the movies is actually quite similar to my personality. Moreover, the producer and director knew how to take a performance out of an actor. Thus, going over the board was not an option. They knew how to take control whenever required.”

Was language a barrier?

When making a shift to a regional cinema, the language generally turns out to be the biggest barrier. But Sanjeeda has a completely different opinion in that regard. “When I started shooting, initially it seemed like an alien language to me but after a couple of days, I became familiar with it. More than a barrier, it was a challenge to me. Of course, shooting in your language is easier, but this was fun too,” she averred.

Amrinder Gill’s simplicity is his charm

Amrinder Gill has shared screen space with television fame stars like Sargun Mehta and Aditi Sharma. So when asked was it a planned move to sign a movie opposite Amrinder, Sanjeeda said, “I keep a track of what’s happening across different industries, so I knew about Amrinder Gill. However, it wasn’t something that was planned. I was coming back from Bangkok when Amberdeep, the director called me. He said he wanted to sign me for his next movie opposite Amrinder Gill.”

She also added, “The first question I shot right at him was will I get to perform? Since it would be my first Punjabi movie I wanted to do a character that had substance and not play somebody who just makes an appearance in songs. Amberdeep assured me that it’s a performance-oriented role.”

Talking further about her experience of working with Amrinder Gill, she said, “Amrinder is very down to earth. He doesn’t talk much and despite being such a big star, he is very humble. The way he handles himself is amazing. Moreover, honestly, is his simplicity, which just adds to the charm.”

Was no promotion a strategy?

The movie ‘Ashke’ hit the theatres on July 27, and just a night before that the trailer of the same was released. There was no promotion done and this led to the rumours that even the no-promotion action was a planned strategy. Clearing the air about the same, Sanjeeda said, “People did say that the production house and other people are very confident that the movie will do great and thus, they are not promoting. But I was like, this is my first film, how can I leave any stone unturned. Having said that, owing to the outdoor shooting and a lot of travelling, things got delayed. We literally didn’t get time to do promotions, and the makers wanted to release the movie on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima, which was on July 27. ”

Painting over dancing
Besides acting, it’s dancing that Sanjeeda is really fond of. However, despite ‘Ashke’ being a bhangra based movie, Sanjeeda’s character was into painting. Talking about the same, she cracked into a laugh and said, “I was being made fun of; people said you didn’t dance in a movie based on Bhangra. The reality is, when I went on the sets, I too was so excited to dance. But then I was told to shut up, and further reminded that Amrinder is the dancer and I am the painter so just have to stick to the character. I missed dancing, but it was compensated when Remo D'souza offered me ‘Mummy Kasam’ in ‘Nawabzaade’.

Next on the plate?

Sanjeeda said that after her Punjabi debut and Bollywood dance track, she has been offered a lot of projects. Moreover, she is open to all, be it television, Hindi film or Pollywood, as long as the work offered is challenging. “I have been approached for different projects; however, I don’t want to do Saas Bahu saga as I feel we can do a lot more than that. Besides that, anything that offers an interesting concept, I will be happy to be onboard.”