Bhumi Pednekar | AFP
Your upcoming film, Sonchiriya, is about a gang of dacoits in Chambal.
The film, a period drama, is set in 1975. What attracted me to it, apart from the fact that [Abhishek] Chaubey was directing it, was the fact that everything that we show in the film is very relevant today. This film is a comment on the caste system and the status of women in our country. It is heart-breaking, but a lot has not changed over the last 40 to 45 years.
Can you describe the experience of shooting for the film?
I remember Chaubey telling us that there is going to be a lot of hard work because of the terrain that we are going to work on. You cannot shoot on this terrain if you are not physically, mentally and emotionally strong. It was not until I went to Chambal that I realised what he meant. It is kilometres of barren, hilly, rocky and dusty land. Back in the day, they used to say that if you get lost in the bihad (ravines) of Chambal, you are not going to come out. And it is true. We had to walk for 20 minutes to reach some locations. If you wanted to use the bathroom, you had to walk back that far. On the way, we used to see carcasses of animals.
In many of your films, like Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, you play small-town characters. Have they changed you in any way?
I think with every character I have done, specifically with the one in Sonchiriya, I have become less privileged in my head. They have made me more humane and given me the ability to empathise with people and not sympathise. They have made me understand that everything is not black or white; things are grey, too.