Hopefully we can normalise onscreen intimacy with Gehraiyaan: Deepika Padukone

Apart from the love songs, actors Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi’s intimate scenes in Gehraiyaan choreographed by Ukrainian filmmaker Dar Gai, has become the talk of the town. Quiz Padukone about it and she says, “Hopefully, with this film, we can normalise these things (showing intimate scenes onscreen). There’s so much more to this film than just infidelity and intimacy. And the audience will hopefully realise that after they finish watching the film.”

The Shakun Batra directorial based on complexities of relationships proved to be an “emotionally exhausting” experience for her. The 36-year-old feels that while an emotional prep might be different from physically preparing for a project, they are challenging in their own ways: “Sometimes, when you’re doing a heavy action sequence, it takes a toll on your body. Similarly, when you do a film like this, it takes a mental toll on you.”

She, however, says that she has now learnt to not be affected by the weight of a character, as she elaborates, “It didn’t take me to dark places. I’m better equipped to handle that nowadays. I’m also better equipped to switch on and off and leave my work behind and not think about it when I come back home. I’m able to maintain a work-life balance now.”

The relationship drama has been reminding many of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006). Back in the day, the Shah Rukh Khan starrer might not have struck a chord with the audience but Padukone believes that the audience, today, is ready for Gehraiyaan. “There’s most certainly an audience for a film like this, where the story and the characters are as true to life as possible. A lot of us take our cues from the audience today. And that’s why we’re able to make the kind of movies that we make nowadays,” she ends.