SRK's Girl Squad member Aaliyah Qureshi- -I got chills the first time I read the script-- Jawan
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00:00 He was fully going in with like, oh hello sir, kind of attitude but he came and gave me a hug.
00:03 The love that Jawan is getting is crazy.
00:05 I always thought it was going to be a hit film but I don't know.
00:08 Everyone was nervous.
00:10 I was like confidently telling Shah Rukh sir, Natalie sir, sirs don't worry.
00:13 Shah Rukh sir has like charisma and his style in Vijay sir is like kind of improvisation
00:17 where he just says something funny and it was not even kind of meant to be there.
00:20 You know, it was like chills, like two geniuses working together.
00:24 You weren't getting tickets for Jawan?
00:26 Impossible on the first day.
00:27 We had to ask the production to get us 10 tickets.
00:32 We have to take Friends Family.
00:33 Hi, this is Alia Qureshi and Jhalli and you're watching Bollywood Hungama.
00:37 So, let me put this together.
00:48 She's a singer, she's a songwriter and she's an actor whom we have seen on Netflix.
00:54 And I love that show, seriously.
00:56 Oh, I'm glad.
00:58 It's so eternally confusing.
00:59 I think everyone young like related to that show because it's just our life as single
01:04 people dating, you know.
01:06 It's hard.
01:07 It's hard out there.
01:08 But tell us all about the journey of Jawan.
01:12 First of all, did you have to audition?
01:15 How did you get this role?
01:17 So, after Eternally, my role on Netflix, I was really looking for more work because
01:22 I didn't think that I wanted to act seriously as a professional.
01:25 I was like, if I get one more project, I'll happily do it.
01:28 But after I did that, you know, there's that hunger that came in me that I want to do more.
01:34 So, I wasn't getting any auditions that month that I auditioned for Jawan.
01:37 So, I called up all the casting agents whose numbers I had and I was like, please, if there's
01:41 any audition, let me test and all.
01:43 So, I got the number of Saurabh from Mukesh Chhabra Casting Company and I called him and
01:50 he was like, there's one film that you can test.
01:52 There are six girls.
01:54 And he didn't tell me much about the project.
01:55 He just said, Red Chilli's project is an ensemble cast with Saurabh Khan and there
01:58 are six girls.
01:59 I was like, okay, of course, I'll be happy to audition for that.
02:03 But I was surprised by how fast it happened after that.
02:05 So, I auditioned.
02:06 Then within a week of that first audition, I got a call from Mukesh sir's office saying,
02:12 the director wants to meet you.
02:13 He liked your audition.
02:14 So then I went to the Red Chilli's office.
02:15 I met Atlees sir, I met Priya, his wife.
02:18 And they were super sweet and they asked me some questions about like fight training.
02:23 Have you ever, you know, trained before?
02:25 I've done boxing.
02:26 They asked, are you willing to change your hair?
02:28 Which is, I have the little bangs.
02:30 I was like, yes, I'll shave it for you.
02:34 And then they asked me if I'm a musician because they wanted one scene with me playing
02:38 guitar with SRK.
02:39 So, I said yes to everyone.
02:41 It worked out really well.
02:42 And then within a few days of that only, I got a call saying, yes, it's been blocked.
02:45 Does it, doesn't it feel like a dream?
02:48 It still feels like a dream.
02:50 It's been two years.
02:50 Have you ever thought of like, okay, it's time to wake up?
02:54 What is going on in your mind right now?
02:56 Right now, it's just the love that Jawan is getting is crazy.
03:00 And I know, like I always thought it was going to be a hit film, but I don't know.
03:04 You know, everyone was nervous.
03:06 I was like, confidently telling Shahrukh sir, Natalie sir, don't worry.
03:09 It's going to be great.
03:10 But I was right.
03:15 I think everyone on the project knew that there was a certain, like, because it has
03:20 a really strong message, you know, and with Atlee sir's style and the writing and the
03:24 message of the film, I think we all knew it was going to strike a chord with people, you
03:30 know.
03:30 So, Alia, we understand that you get the audition correct.
03:34 And you know, you have this conversation with Atlee sir and you're in.
03:38 When you get the script, what was going on?
03:41 Like, what did you read?
03:42 What came into your mind?
03:44 So I didn't get the full script because, you know, if by chance it got leaked, but I got
03:48 my parts.
03:49 And so the first thing I read was the first heist.
03:52 I don't want to give away too much.
03:53 But the first heist, the script.
03:55 Who are you saying this to?
03:56 Everyone has seen this film.
03:58 Everyone has seen it?
03:58 Okay, fine.
03:59 Well, I got the Metro Heist script.
04:01 And I was just blown.
04:03 I remember the exact day I read it, I was just blown away by the script because I was like,
04:06 this is so nice.
04:07 It's talking about, you know, the farmer issues and all of this, like really deep things
04:11 that not many people want to speak about in film, you know.
04:15 And so I just got chills the first time I read it.
04:18 I was so happy to be part of the project.
04:20 It's amazing.
04:21 All of y'all, I mean, the squad was so powerful.
04:25 And I think it says a lot about a film.
04:27 When the start is so powerful, that you know, it's sitting on the edge of your seat.
04:32 You don't know what's happening, but you still want to know and etc.
04:36 But tell us, how was it meeting Shah Rukh Khan for the first time?
04:39 That was awesome.
04:41 We were looking forward to that.
04:42 So I think it was a weekend to shoot.
04:44 We shot all of our intro sequences into the Metro first.
04:47 And then we had a schedule where we met.
04:50 So and I remember the first time I met him, he's so warm, you know, and I was fully going
04:54 in with like, oh, hello, sir kind of attitude.
04:56 But he came and gave me a hug.
04:57 And he smells like everyone who ever has hugged Shah Rukh Khan is like, says one thing is
05:02 that he smells incredible.
05:04 You know, it's just a thing.
05:05 He knows it.
05:05 Everyone knows it.
05:07 And he was so sweet.
05:08 I think I said, so, you know, we're so excited to work with you.
05:11 And he said not more excited than I am.
05:13 And he was just really kind and warm.
05:14 So I never felt intimidated around him.
05:18 But one day before, did you have any thoughts in your mind?
05:20 Like what are the first things you're going to tell him?
05:22 Did you plan that?
05:23 I didn't plan.
05:24 I didn't think we were going to talk so much.
05:26 I didn't know what it was going to be like, you know, so I didn't expect anything.
05:29 But he was so warm that it made me feel like I don't even need to plan what I'm going
05:34 to say.
05:34 I was just sitting, I would ask him questions.
05:35 I would speak to him like a, like a, you know, a co-actor or like a boss rather because he's
05:41 also my producer.
05:42 But so he's just so warm that it's hard to be, it's hard to feel uncomfortable around
05:47 him.
05:48 Were there any things that you've heard about him that, you know, just got aside when you
05:54 met him?
05:54 What is it that you knew about him that just changed?
05:58 So the thing is, I've only heard good things about him.
06:01 And now I know why, right?
06:02 Because they say never meet your heroes.
06:04 Yeah.
06:04 But those people who say that clearly have not met Shahrukh sir because he's like the
06:08 one hero you want to meet.
06:09 And I used to, I used to really love him before the, before meeting him.
06:14 And after meeting him, I love him even more if that's possible, you know, because you
06:18 see that how he is not just with me, not just with the actors, but with everyone on set.
06:22 He's very kind and he's very, just like, like he loves his job, you know, you can tell
06:28 that after 30 years, he just wants to be there.
06:30 And like, that's the kind of passion I want to have in my life.
06:32 You know, I think there is definitely a conversation happening all over the internet on how, you
06:37 know, you and Ibrahim have a connective of music.
06:40 We have not connected, me and Shahrukh sir have connected.
06:43 So me and Ibrahim have only probably met like twice or thrice when he's come on set.
06:47 But Shahrukh sir, like heard Pooja, his manager told him that I was a musician.
06:53 He was like, let's have a jam session tomorrow.
06:55 Okay.
06:56 So he actually got, and he mentioned, he said, Ibrahim has a home studio kind of recording
07:02 things at home because he's really, you know, getting into music.
07:05 So he got all that stuff to set the next day.
07:08 He had like two guitars, a mic stand, a mic, a speaker.
07:12 And I was like, is there a shooting going on or a music concert?
07:15 It was an amazing feeling, you know, and then to be able to sing my songs for him and to
07:19 be able to like jam with him and kind of like, what a surreal experience, you know.
07:23 That is amazing.
07:24 Another fine actor in the film, apart from so many wonderful people is Nayan Tara.
07:30 How was it on the sets with her?
07:32 It was really cool.
07:33 So she's just a superstar in the South.
07:37 Everybody, when we were in Chennai for a month, everyone I asked, I asked everyone from rickshaw
07:42 drivers to people at restaurants, I was like, who's your favorite actress?
07:45 And everybody said Nayan.
07:47 There was no one else said anything else.
07:48 It's like, she's the only actor there.
07:50 So it was quite crazy to work with her and like see her as a person and stuff.
07:54 And she's so powerful and she has a certain kind of like, just like very calm composure
07:59 about her.
08:00 And it was lovely.
08:01 She like sat and she chatted with me and she's just a really sweet person.
08:05 And she I think, yeah, she gave us some restaurant recommendations in Chennai.
08:09 It's just like really, we got to see her when she was when she had her kids and stuff.
08:13 So it was quite a journey.
08:14 Yeah, quite a journey we went on for the past two years.
08:17 The Hindi film industry has seen a certain amount of change when it comes to negative
08:22 characters and villains.
08:23 And we're loving this change of, you know, villains also being comedians, giving us a
08:28 comic relief and Vijay Sethupathi just fits so beautifully.
08:31 Like there's one scene and I don't want to like, it's not a spoiler or anything, but
08:36 I love it when, you know, there's a fight that's going on and all the other gang members
08:40 are talking to Vijay Sethupathi.
08:42 And he just says this line, "Baskar Baji".
08:44 It's just, he's so natural.
08:47 What have you loved about him?
08:49 I love Vijay sir.
08:50 I will fight to the death.
08:51 If anyone says Vijay sir was, you know, anything, anything even slightly bad about him, I will
08:56 fight them.
08:56 I'll use my jawanshini.
08:58 I love him so much.
08:59 So obviously, I watched him in Super Deluxe and a few movies before that and I was just
09:04 blown away.
09:05 So from the beginning only and he's just such a humble person.
09:10 Like when you speak to him, you don't feel like you're talking to a brilliant actor,
09:13 superstar.
09:14 You just feel like he's just like, nice, calm, in his own zone.
09:17 You know, he doesn't have anything flashy about him.
09:19 And he's so dedicated to his art.
09:22 So sometimes he would have an acting coach on set with him and, you know, like, first
09:28 of all, imagine being Vijay Sethupathi's acting coach.
09:30 Like, what a job, you know, like, how will you ever sleep at night?
09:34 And so he used to bring his coach and just to kind of bounce ideas off of like, how can
09:39 I do the scene slightly differently?
09:41 Is there any inflection I could change?
09:42 So he's always trying to improve his craft, even though he's kind of at the top of it.
09:46 And I remember this one specific instance in the jail where it was Shahrukh Sohran Vijay
09:52 Sethupathi's that, you know, that scene, double Shahrukh Sohran Vijay Sethupathi's scene.
09:55 And it was, I think we did a wide take, which was just four or five minutes without cutting.
10:01 Yeah.
10:02 You know, normally we do a lot of cuts because at least her style is very fast and there's
10:05 a lot of cuts.
10:05 So we don't usually do a scene beginning to end, you know, but that scene was beginning
10:11 to end with Shahrukh Sohran Vijay Sethupathi.
10:13 And I promise after four minutes of just the scene going on, there was pin drop silence
10:19 on a set of like 500 girls and crew.
10:22 I mean, and 500 probably crew also.
10:24 There was pin drop silence and everyone just burst into applause because and this doesn't
10:28 happen like you're very professional on sets normally.
10:29 Even if Shahrukh Sohran Vijay Sethupathi does a great scene, you probably just be like,
10:32 you know, wow, nice scene and move on.
10:34 But it was just there was the energy.
10:35 We were just shocked.
10:36 We were like this chemistry between the two of them is like chilling, you know, and Shahrukh
10:42 Sohran's like, you know, charisma and his style in Vijay Sohran's like, kind of improvisation
10:46 where he just say something funny and it was not even kind of meant to be there, you know,
10:49 in the script.
10:50 It was it was like chills, like two geniuses working together.
10:54 Now Arya, we love the fact that, you know, this is a film that also showcases strong
10:59 women like yourself.
11:01 How was it shooting the fight scenes?
11:04 What difficulties, what challenges did you face?
11:07 Fight scenes were my favourite part.
11:09 I loved it.
11:10 And I didn't ever think of myself as like an action hero or an action person before
11:15 this film.
11:16 But it's fully changed my mind about stunts.
11:18 Like I loved it.
11:19 It was one of my favourite parts was the stunt training.
11:22 And we learned everything.
11:23 We learned hand to hand combat.
11:25 We...
11:25 So how long was this entire training for?
11:28 It would change.
11:28 So depending on what the schedule needed.
11:30 So for the hospital heist, we had about four or five days for the final heist, the drug
11:38 heist, we had maybe like five days also of training.
11:41 So it kind of it depended on the team we were working with.
11:44 The teams would also change the stunt teams.
11:45 But what a process to learn how to fight.
11:48 And then you're fighting these like big guys who are like seven times your size and you're
11:52 just easily beating them up.
11:54 It was super fun.
11:55 And I think it's like, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's the first Indian action
12:00 movie that features so heavily on women fighting, you know.
12:03 Normally the women are kind of there as a like, you know, maybe a damsel in distress
12:07 or a more like docile character.
12:10 But this was the first time that you actually see women being like, we're going to fight
12:13 for what has been done to us.
12:15 Correct.
12:16 Absolutely.
12:16 And so it's powerful.
12:17 Now tell me, who did you get the most closest to among your gang members?
12:21 All five of the girls.
12:22 All five of the girls.
12:23 All six of us are like, honestly a family.
12:25 I don't know how this happened.
12:26 And you know, people are like, oh, six girls must be a lot of cattiness.
12:31 I'm like, not at all.
12:32 Like, this is not another era.
12:34 We are in 1923.
12:35 Exactly.
12:36 Exactly.
12:36 I think there's such a stereotype about how women get along and how women are with each
12:41 other.
12:41 But actually, I feel like if you find a tribe of women who are just like not competitive,
12:46 but collaborative, you know, and kind of like have that same empathy and women are the most
12:50 like for me, I have the most empathetic and like funny and wise people I've ever met.
12:54 You know, I have all been women.
12:56 So to find five women in that group and then like get to work with them for two years has
13:01 just been amazing.
13:02 And, you know, there was never a thing of like, oh, I'm a bigger actor and you're a
13:06 newcomer or anything.
13:07 There was none of that.
13:07 It was very warm.
13:09 We just saw each other on a human level.
13:11 And I think that also helped our chemistry on in the movie.
13:14 You know, you do kind of feel like, you know, you should have also had a backstory like
13:19 Lahir and Sanya.
13:22 I knew from the beginning only like what the film was, you know, because there were such
13:27 a big star cast.
13:27 I didn't expect that a newcomer would get a 10 minute backstory in Shahrukh Khan's film.
13:34 There was just no time.
13:34 There was barely enough time, I feel like, to go over everyone's backstory, including,
13:39 you know, all the Shahrukhs and stuff.
13:41 So I feel like, no, I don't feel bad about that.
13:44 And I feel like, hey, since the movie is doing so well, I'll get it in the next film.
13:47 That's a great way of looking at it.
13:50 But I heard that you weren't getting tickets for Jawan.
13:53 No, I didn't get it.
13:54 It was impossible on the first day.
13:56 We had to ask the production to please give us 10 tickets.
14:00 We have to take Friends Family.
14:01 And we actually had to go with the girls.
14:03 So six of us went to PVR together.
14:05 Not six of us, some had to cancel last minute.
14:07 But the plan was that all of us will go together because from the beginning, we just we wanted
14:11 to watch, you know, our work and our team effort together.
14:14 But yeah, production had to go.
14:15 And tell us how was the experience watching it on the big screen with the public?
14:20 It was a crazy experience, you know, because people were cheering.
14:23 People were cheering for us.
14:26 Screaming, whistling, hooting.
14:27 People were dancing in the song.
14:29 So it was a surreal experience to see something you've put so much love into be loved by
14:34 so many people.
14:35 So, so rewarding and satisfying.
14:38 Apart from your role, if given a choice, who is the other role that you would love to do?
14:43 Oh, Shahrukh Sahib.
14:46 Why not?
14:49 Why not?
14:50 Absolutely.
14:51 Lovely.
14:52 Hi, this is Alia Qureshi and Jhalli and you're watching Bollywood Hungama.