Fatima Sana Shaikh says after Dangal and Thugs of Hindostan, doing Anurag Basu’s next ‘was a breeze’
Fatima Sana Shaikh, who made an impressive debut with Dangal, faced a setback with Thugs of Hindostan. She now has two more films, Anurag Basu’s next and a horror-comedy with Saif Ali Khan.
Actor Fatima Sana Shaikh hit the limelight with Dangal, playing a wrestler from rural India. Then came Thugs of Hindostan, which tanked badly. Fatima remains nonchalant about it. In a new interview, she has spoken about winning awards for her action sequences in ‘Thugs...’ and her upcoming projects with Raj Kummar Rao and Saif Ali Khan.
Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, she said Thugs of Hindostan’s failure may have cost her a film, but won her awards for her action sequences. She said, “After collecting my award, I went to Jackie Chan’s room, where many top actors from the Chinese film industry were present. They immediately recognised me as the Dangal girl and were excited to meet me. It was surreal.”
Fatima will be seen in Anurag Basu’s next, a crime anthology of four stories, in which is she paired with Rajkummar Rao. “For the first time, I play a normal woman in a sari on screen. After battling for a medal in the ring and performing superhuman, gravity-defying stunts, this one was a breeze.
Fatima will also star in a horror comedy, Bhoot Police, alongside Saif and Ali Fazal. The shoot of the film has been pushed to 2020 but the actor has insisted that she’s not responsible for that. Speaking about it, she was quoted as saying, “I’m a fattu at heart and am already dreading the shoot. As long as I am on the sets with people around me, I’ll be fine. But as soon as I’m alone in my room, meri barbaadi hone wali hai.”
The team is expected to shoot in Darjeeling and the hills are known for their scary tales. Since she stays alone, she has a number of tricks up her sleeve to deal with it, one of them being keeping soft toys. She was quoted as saying, “There’s a particular teddy bear that’s my bodyguard. I’m going to take it along and sleep with it. Also, you will immediately identify my room in the hotel because the lights will never be turned off through the night. i have asked them to give me a room in the middle.”
Fatima is rarely seen at industry parties. Speaking about how casting in films is now done basis the number of followers on Instagram and who one is friends with. “I don’t attend parties unless I know the host and the guests. If it is only about pictures, I can click and upload them myself, but to pay for people to dress you up and click you for an event, is not organic. I’d rather use the money to travel.”
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