Anushka Sharma and Suraj Sharma Talk PHILLAURI.

At the 20th Century Fox building in Soho, London, Anushka Sharma and Suraj Sharma, two lead stars of the film took part in a video conference in which they talked about their experience of working together along with Diljit Dosanjh. Phillauri is a story about a young man who for the sake of warding off an evil superstitious belief, has to marry a tree before marrying the girl that he loves Little does he know, that the tree that he gets married to has a ghost of a dead woman who ends up haunting him. Anushka Sharma and Suraj Sharma Talk PHILLAURI.

Asian Style Magazine: it is so inspiring to see young actresses being producers as well. Were you taking a risk when you were producing this film as your money was on the line instead just being the lead in it?

Anushka Sharma: I’ve never seen a risk in these things because if you are coming up with a good content then the fear is not there. I could have worked as an actress, but the whole concept was actually brought forward by me and my team therefore producing it was a much better option.

Dil Se Radio: The star cast is very diverse. How did you come up with such an idea of placing actors from different backgrounds?

Anushka Sharma: The idea basically was to place the right actor for each role. Diljit Dosanjh is a Punjabi Sikh and his name came up when we needed to place an actor for the role of a Punjabi singer, therefore we chose him. Surprisingly, he sat well with the role and played it with a lot of honesty. We had seen Suraj Sharma in different films, and what stood out were his performances. We needed an actor to play the character of a Delhi based person, and his style of talking in Hindi was typically a Delhi one. Therefore we approached him and he accepted the role. Mehreen Kaur Pirzada was a newcomer and she looked very fresh. We had no preconceived notions of how she would perform as we had not seen her act before, therefore her being a fresh face and talent enabled us to pick her for the part.

BBC Asian Network: Suraj, this is your first mainstream Bollywood film. What were you looking for in a Bollywood film to accept this film. Secondly, the representation of roles for Asians in Hollywood is a big issue now a days. Did you feel like you were given nuances that you got to play in this film which are missing from Asian characters in Hollywood?

Suraj Sharma: I was always waiting for the right script to come by me from Bollywood. The reason is that I wanted to be a bridge between Hollywood and Bollywood. I wanted to bring along with me all the knowledge of script and performances that I had learned in Hollywood and transfer it to Bollywood. Phillauri particularly had a very beautiful script. It had the elements of being very entertaining and comedic. It was a full on Bollywood script but at the same time it talked about a quite a lot of things. My role is a very strange one as it has to tackle with a marriage and at the same time with a ghost which is lost! Thus this element made it fun for me to do.

Tony Snell Breakfast Show: This is a funny question for both of you. Have you ever ghosted somebody?

Anushka Sharma: Actually, I haven’t been on a date for a long time so there is no chance of me ghosting anybody in the near past.

Suraj Sharma: I’ve never ghosted anybody. I think I’m a nice guy.

Sunrise Radio: Suraj, you are being built as the star of ‘Life of Pi’ who has made it to the mainstream Bollywood films. How do you feel about that? Anushka, you are so young and you have already done so many films and now you are producing too. When you pick a film, what do you do to inspire the critics and add a commercial value. Is it the cast that is most important or the story? What is that your gut feelings tell you to pick when you are making a new film?

Suraj Sharma: I feel that I am starting to read a variety of scripts and that is enabling me to grow in my career as a person and an actor. I feel that I am very close to the character that I’ve played in Phillauri now and am looking forward to what else I would be getting to do next so it is very exciting for me

Anushka Sharma: The only thing that interests me is the story which should have a new vision, a language and a voice. Now that the entertainment is coming inside the homes and people are staying on their sofas and not making their way to the cinemas, we need to offer them something more, therefore I think Phillauri has offered the people something unique to experience.

NatashaKundi.com: Is there a social message in the movie and why exactly should people go and watch this movie?

Suraj Sharma: The message this movie carries is in a way to raise awareness for the present generation which faces this dillema of over saturation of options and the inability of committing to one thing fully.

Anushka Sharma: It is a family film and you will only find out the real message behind it when you will watch it.

The London Tree: Looking at the trailer I have seen that there is a lot of CGI involved. You both would have definitely been performing in front of an imaginary object, especially Suraj. What was the experience like?

Suraj Sharma: We both actually had someone behind the camera to react to in different situations and we both found the experience as being very unique. It was a very different kind of CGI which we have worked on.

Phillauri is showing in cinemas near you.

Special Thanks to Media Hive for putting together the press conference.

Anushka Sharma and Suraj Sharma Talk PHILLAURI. Anushka Sharma and Suraj Sharma Talk PHILLAURI. Anushka Sharma and Suraj Sharma Talk PHILLAURI