Chhapaak: This is what Deepika Padukone did on the last day of shoot
Deepika Padukone spoke about her role in her first production, Chhapaak, at a chat show, and how the experience was a traumatic one. She revealed how she dealt with it in her own way.
Actor Deepika Padukone will be seen next in her first production, Chhapaak. She will play an acid attack survivor named Malti in the film. This is the first film she shot for after marriage. The experience was traumatic for the actor and she decided to heal herself in her own way.
Speaking at The Print’s Off The Cuff chat show, she was asked which role has impacted her the most. Mentioning Chhapaak, she said, “I literally had to burn the piece of prosthetic that I was wearing on the last day of shoot. It impacted me in a way that I had never experienced before. That was my way of trying to let go of everything that I had experienced. I literally burnt it. Prosthetics are expensive. We get charged per piece of prosthetic that the artist makes. But I took a call as a producer - I said I don’t care, I need to heal emotionally.
“On the last day of shoot (it takes about one or two days to prepare one piece), I gave my make up artist a heads up and said I’d like an extra piece. She made one and the day we finished, I remember taking the piece, taking some alcohol, went into a corner, poured the alcohol on it and set it on fire and stood there watching it burn until it had disappeared completely in front of me. I don’t think it has left my system entirely but the vision of that piece burning is stuck in my head. It affected me in a way that no other movie had before,” she concluded.
In Chhapaak, Deepika plays Malti, a character inspired by real-life acid attack survivor Laxmi Aggarwal of Delhi. Director Meghna Gulzar earlier spoke about why Deepika was the perfect choice for the role. Talking to Pinkvilla, she had said, “I would be lying if I would say that Deepika was not always a part of the film... I mean it was like this unsaid and unspoken wish that both Atika and I had. We have seen pictures of how Laxmi looked like before the attack and I found an uncanny similarity to Deepika, but you know, at that time, we were like we are letting our imaginations go wild, I don’t think Deepika would give this thought a moment because it is just too radical, but it was a thought we silently nurtured in our hearts.”
Chhapaak also stars Vikrant Massey and is slated to hit the theatres on January 10, 2020.
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