When Alia Bhatt sought inspiration from Sanam Saeed for her role in ‘Kalank’

Preparing herself for an incredible role of a lifetime, Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt revealed that she took  inspiration for her character in ’Kalank’ from Pakistani actor Sanam Saeed’s Kashaf in TV drama ‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai’.

Reported by DNA India, Alia said that her director Abhishek Verman recommended her to watch the show, which featured her ‘Kapoor & Sons' co-star Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed in lead roles.

The ‘Gully Boy’ starlet shared about her inspirations in order to prepare for her character ‘Roop,’ her look and diction in the pre-partition drama film.

“I watched a lot of old films like ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ and ‘Umrao Jaan’ to get an understanding of grace and body language. (And) I had to clean to my Hindi as I am speaking Urdu in the film. Abhishek asked me to watch ‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai.’ The character of Kashaf, played by Sanam Saeed in the show is very much how Roop will deal with the situation,” Alia told a daily in an interview.

She continued, “She has responsibility on her shoulders so she is not always a happy person. The character is vulnerable yet strong. It is difficult (to bring so many) layers – unhappy, vulnerable and strong to a character. Abhishek kept saying that I should be irritating,”

2012 hit drama serial ‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai’ aired in various countries, also received praise across the border. Recently, Netflix launched Pakistani dramas and added ‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai’ to the list. Currently, the show holds 4 star rating.

Bhatt first heard the story of ‘Kalank’ from Karan Johar when she was promoting her debt film ‘Student of the Year’ in 2012. “He had mentioned about the story is passing when we were promoting Student of the Year.’ But the story was different at that time. Later, I heard it from Abhishek and he said he was adapting the film in his own way. “

“After many months I realized Abhishek had written this role keeping me in mind. The process of this film coming to me was very organic,” she said.

The multi-starrer ‘Kalank’ stars Varun Dhawan, Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha and Aditya Roy Kapoor. The film is set to be released on 17th April.