IANS Exclusive Interview of Actress Alankrita Sahai for her film 'Band of Maharajas'

IANS INDIA

MUMBAI: In an exclusive conversation with actress Alankrita Sahai, she discussed how her movie "Band of Maharajas" was formally nominated for two Oscars in 2025: Best Original Score and Best Film. She also gives insights that audiences can take away and discusses her experiences as an outsider in the industry.  #AlankritaSahai #OscarNomination #BandofMaharajas  #Trending #2025 #BollywoodCountry #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #BollywoodHindiNews #ians

Transcript

00:00I think, I feel extremely grateful, honoured, humbled, but the feeling that has to sink

00:10in, that actually this thing happened with us, with our team, is a phenomenal feeling

00:17which has still not been able to sink in my belly.

00:20I have, instead of rats jumping inside my stomach, elephants are jumping inside my stomach.

00:25I feel delighted that all the effort has come to fruition in such a way.

00:56Have you seen the poster of the film?

00:57Shall I show it to you?

01:01I'll show you the poster of the film and why it inspired me and it might inspire a lot

01:04of people.

01:06Okay, so this is the poster of our film.

01:12So basically, as you can see, it's a gun, like a rifle and there's a guitar, and it

01:19says, while countries divide us, music unites us, right?

01:24So the very essence, the very essence of this film is about how, regardless of the

01:30territories, boundaries, the war, the kind of distinction, diversification, animosity

01:41that countries may have, boundaries may have, territories may have, religions, caste, creed

01:47might have, ek cheezein jo hum sabko jodti hai saath mein, wo hai music.

01:52So, jis tariki se music ek jod bana kar ek community ko build kar sakta hai, ek nation

01:58ko build kar sakta hai, ek collective expression de sakta hai ek insaan ko, I think, because

02:03I'm a person who resonates with music, but I resonate with my character as well.

02:07You know, because it was very different, it's a very different character that I wanted to

02:10play and I was given the opportunity to portray her, but the story is more about how these

02:15wonderful boys who are bandwalas turn out to become great musicians because of their

02:20calling for music and how they venture from Punjab to Pakistan and it's a journey of

02:25how these two countries are united through music.

02:28Aaj bhi agar aap dekhen hamar ek Coke Studio Pakistan hai, Coke Studio India hai, wo kis

02:33tariki se these artists are performing and how we are resonating with their music.

02:38Main Pakistan ke Pasuri gaane, Abhita Parveen ke gaane sunen, Tu Jhoom, main hamare Diljit

02:44Dostan jo Gurdas Mahan ke gaane sunti hun.

02:46So, we all are listening to music, chahe hum kisi bhi country ke kyu na ho, hum Hollywood

02:51ke bhi gaane sun rahe hain, hum South ke bhi sunte hain, regardless of our language barriers,

02:56right?

02:57Regardless of which countries we belong to.

02:58So the idea is that music is an expression and a collective community building experience

03:06for everybody to enjoy and become a part of.

03:09So, the name of my character is Simran.

03:19She is a Punjabi girl and I can show you a BTS of the picture if you want to see how

03:24I look as well.

03:27She is a love interest of the three boys, bachpan ki, you know, bachpan se yeh hamesha

03:31saath mein rahe hain, toh ladko ne kaafi chhera hai, usse pyaar karte hain.

03:36And she's like, you guys are fukras, you're not doing anything in your lives, I'm never

03:39gonna marry any one of you.

03:41And how there's a love angle to it and how there's a way of them being inspired by their

03:44families and their loved ones to become something in their lives.

03:47You know, so she's a quirky, funny, nakre wali love interest of these people and how

03:52in the end when, you know, they had their journey and they transmute through territories

03:58and their visions and their boundaries, the kind of person she chooses, the kind of journey

04:04she goes through with and without them.

04:07And it's basically a cute love story as well that Simran plays with one of the lead characters

04:13in the film, that is Pransh.

04:16He's called Pinta in the film.

04:18And yeah, Guru and Pinta are, you know, two funny characters as well.

04:24And they've played a great role.

04:26And Navraj Hans's son is also there.

04:28So yeah, mujhe lagta hai ki mera character merele sahi tha kyunki I was no longer playing

04:34a hot girl anymore.

04:36I was playing a village girl and I was given the opportunity to do something different.

04:40And I was looked by a director differently.

04:42He didn't look at the way I was just looking physically.

04:45He could see that I could play something which is like a village girl.

04:53Okay, so basically Band of Monarchs was the first film that I had signed, but not the

04:56first film that I did.

04:58We of course shot the film over a period of time and it's gone through festivals, it's

05:02gone through a lot of things.

05:03Finally, it's reached the Oscars and not had its release in India yet.

05:07But when I got this opportunity, playing Simran was because we had a lot of workshops that

05:11were done by sir.

05:12Girish sir is a very, very intense director.

05:17He does not let you scot-free until you don't get into the character of the skin.

05:21And I was a newcomer as well, right?

05:22So I was learning the nuances of acting as well, despite the background of training and

05:28schooling that I did.

05:30He trained us, ingrained in us the idea of the essence of Punjab, while keeping in mind

05:35it had to be a Bollywood film as well.

05:38Keeping the diction in mind, the lehenga, the accent, the nakra of, you know, removing

05:44my metropolis extreme... how do I express this to you?

05:51My basic demeanor of being from a metropolitan city, I had to shed it and I had to become

05:56a girl who belonged from this beautiful village in Punjab and represent that essence and that

06:01beauty in Simran.

06:04So shedding your inhibitions from being the individual you are and gaining momentum with

06:08the girl you have to become for a film was something that he intensively, intuitively

06:13made sure we understand while reading the script, while dancing to the tunes of the

06:18music that Vikram Ghosh sir and they all kind of conceptualised.

06:21So it was work for a newcomer.

06:28Not a bias.

06:30I would say they don't have a bias towards outsiders, but they do have, you know, different

06:35ways of lobbying and have their own camps and their own friends who they prefer first

06:38like any other individual or any other community or any other industry would.

06:42The opportunity to reach there is what we feel and as outsiders called bias or we call

06:49nepotism, but I've understood this while being in the industry that a politician's son would

06:54want his kid to be a politician or the kid would want to do the same thing.

06:58An army officer, doctor or any kind of industry or in the child usually sees that growing

07:03up so they kind of get influenced by the confluence of the same thing, right?

07:07So I don't blame them for that.

07:09They have that one up and they're utilising it.

07:12But there are success stories of people who have come out like Shah Rukh Khan was the

07:15biggest success story as well, Amitabh sir, this Pankaj Tripathi sir, there is so many

07:20people in the industry today who have made it over the years and sustained it.

07:24So many women, right?

07:26So I don't think that, yes, the newcomers because their parents, they have grown up now,

07:31they're doing their best, they're doing their will, but how you sustain yourself is important

07:34but as a newcomer, I must say it's not a bias.

07:37It is a fact that the opportunity to reach that takes a while because we do not know

07:44everybody, we've not grown up with them, we do not know who is making what film sometimes

07:49because we're not a part of the intimate circle and group, right?

07:52So that we might call it a bias but that is actually how far our reach is yet and only

07:59with more work does that reach, does that connectivity expand and people recognise you.

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Transcript

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