'Do Lafzon Ki Kahani was challenging' - Kajal Aggarwal

This Punjabi kudi, who is a sensation down south was missing from the Bollywood scene for a while. However, after three years Kajal Aggarwal is all set to create a stir in Bollywood with her third Hindi film — Do Lafzon Ki Kahani. In a candid chat she talks about her experience of playing a character with visual disability in the film and how she can never let go of Bollywood. Excerpts from a tete-a-tete with the Singham girl.

A good plot is always the driving force to sign a film, but that apart what else lured you to sign Do Lafzon Ki Kahani?

I was very impressed when I first heard the story from Deepak (Director Deepak Tijori). But I was even more impressed when I saw – Always, the Korean film on which this film is based.

I fell in love with the film, I fell in love with the way my character was portrayed. I loved the intensity and the gamut of emotions that I had to portray for this one particular film.

Also the fact that I am playing a visually handicap person, I have never played any handicap ever in my life and that was quite a challenge to me.

So how did you tackle this challenge of playing a visually impaired girl?

For me, it was very important that I kept it as real and believable as possible. So I went for a nice long duration to XRCVC (The Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged). I interacted with Dr. Sam and this very sweet girl named Calvina.

At the end of the day, what would you say was your takeaway from this film and the character?

My take away, I would say was that I got to know visually impaired people better. You know, usually, in our films, we stereotype them and show them to be frustrated, or angry, or even really depressed. They are not like that at all. They are actually very happy. They are way happier than us.

They are content, they are positive, radiant beautiful people. And they do not like pity, they hate it if you show them any sort of sympathy or try to do their work for them. They like to be treated as normal people.

She taught me a lot of different techniques, like the ability to walk with a cane, the basics of braille, the different gadgets that they use etc. There are many things about their lifestyle that we are simply unaware of.

Something as simple as — which I have also kept in the film — if they are pouring water in a glass, they will always put their finger in the glass and then they pour the water so that the water doesn’t overspill. So I learned things like this, which helped me give a realistic touch to the character.

Your equation with your co-star Randeep Hooda?

Randeep is a powerhouse of talent. He is brilliant and just being around him you learn so much. He focusses on the smallest details. Like I saw his last film Sarbjit and I couldn’t get over his nails.

That’s the kind of impact he usually has and I am glad to have got the opportunity to work with him.

As an actor, how much did you draw from the original Korean film - Always? Did you watch it over and over again?

No, I watched it only once because though the essence of the story is the same, we have modified it a lot as per our Indian sensibilities.

Official remakes of foreign films have not really managed to create a stir at the box office. Be it the remake of Knight And Day — Bang Bang, or the much recent Rocky Handsome, which was based on The Man From Nowhere… What is your take on remakes?

I think as long as the story is worth being told in different languages, one should go ahead and remake it. See, no one can really control the fate of the film based on factors like – the original did well and the remake didn’t. At the end of the day, it is all about the story.

We work as hard on these stories as we would otherwise. You just have to put in your best efforts and then leave it on the audiences.

You are a huge sensation down south, in fact, you are one of the highest paid actresses there, but you have grown up watching Hindi films, this is your mother tongue… So where do you feel more at home — Bollywood or Tollywood?

I feel at home in both the industries - South and Bollywood. I am a Punjabi girl born and brought up in south Mumbai. I speak Hindi and I have lived here all my life. So, of course, I am extremely comfortable doing Hindi films. But everything I know till date about my craft is because of the South film industry.

I started my film career with south films. So my loyalty obviously is over there. I feel I am a south Indian at heart. I don’t even feel like a Punjabi person any more. So it’s very hard to actually choose between the two. That’s why I have this constant struggle to maintain a balance between the two. They are like my two babies and I don’t want to give up on either. And I honestly feel there is not too much of a working difference now.

There is a lot of influx and exchange of creativity – technicians, artist, writers, directors. So I feel it’s like one big film industry, rather than being a south, or north, or any other regional film industry.