What attracted you to the role of Sanyogita in Prithviraj? How do you prepare to portray a character from a different time period or cultural context?
We all grew up with the story of Sanyogita and Prithviraj and I think there was one character that I was very familiar with. As someone who is not a part of the industry but grew up watching films, historical figures and movies around, Mythology has always fascinated me. I was very excited when Prithviraj was offered to me because I have always loved watching movies related to history. I was starting to portray a character that we read about in folklore and that I remembered reading in the book. Amar Chitra Katha It was very exciting. So there was something very exciting about portraying princess Sanyogita and of course the preparations came with a lot of research. Understanding the timeline, understanding what the director’s point of view is and what his vision is for the character. It took a lot of research and a lot of preparation to portray someone from such a different timeline, with such a different life. She’s a princess and then her character evolves into a queen who defends herself. So keeping that in mind and also understanding what my director’s vision is for that character. So I think it’s a combination of all of these.How do you approach the emotional depth and complexity of these iconic characters? What do you hope audiences will take away from your portrayal of this historical or mythological figure?
As I mentioned before, he goes on a journey from being someone who is very protected in his palace and valuable to his father, to defending what he believes is his right – his right to love, to choose his life partner, and to stand up for himself. Fighting for his father’s love. Later, after getting married, she fights for her rights as a woman in court. That’s why I feel like this character has so much maturity at such a young age. At that time, I was playing a character much younger than my age. And this was my first film, so it was important for me to be able to bring those layers to that character, to understand that she’s had certain experiences and that our experiences are what make us who we are, and that’s what our character development is. That’s why it was important for me to understand his character development and be able to convey it. Of course, there is a certain innocence about her because she is so young and just a girl in love.
Manushi Chhillar: One needs to enjoy beauty and femininity; This isn’t something that will make you feel insecure.
But later when she faces the world and realizes that things are skewed towards a certain gender, she experiences a certain disappointment and there is a certain imbalance and hypocrisy in society that she fearlessly calls out. She is very opinionated, which is surprising for a woman of that time. So I think all of that makes his character very interesting, enduring, and very fun to play. I guess since it was just my first movie, I was hoping the audience would appreciate the effort I put in. I worked a lot on the character and we had a certain point of view. So, I guess my hope was just that their inference would be that this is a certain version and this is a certain interpretation, and that we’re all having fun looking at it and enjoying this different world at the same time. created by our director.
Can you discuss the challenges you faced in embodying the essence of the character while remaining true to historical or mythological explanations?
History has always been open to debate; There are different versions of history. Different authors have interpreted the same thing differently. So everyone will have an opinion and everyone will have a different school of thought. I think the first thing we need to do is understand that we are making a film and that film is a director’s tool. For our film, we referenced a book written by the author. Chand Bardai. So, you know, we talked about Prithviraj Raso. With that in mind, I think it’s very important to exclude all other interpretations and understand that in order to portray this particular character, you need to focus on your director’s interpretation and your director’s vision for this character. And at the same time, you know, I think the timeline is the fact that this is a time where we can read about it, we can hear about it, we can interpret it, but it’s not a time that we see. So, bringing this into a contemporary world, where we can communicate with the audience, speak in a certain language, sound dated in a certain way, but also communicate with the audience. People today can understand this language and understand the communication between characters. So, I think these are little challenges one faces.
I also think it’s something I’ve always said about my character, when I was reading the script I realized Sayogita might be from a different century. They may wear different clothes, be a certain way, live in a house with very different architecture, have different hobbies. But all this is external. Her internal struggles were the same struggles many women face today. This made his character both contemporary and relatable. So, you know, as an actor, I want to bridge the gap between your director’s vision, especially when it comes to a historical character, a historical figure, and making that acceptable in a way that today’s audience can understand. So I think that bridge needs to be an actor, an actor needs to be that bridge. And I think that’s another big challenge when it comes to this role.
