You get to see a warrior princess fall hopelessly in love with a ferocious warlord. You will also get to see a modern woman, who makes chocolates for a living, give her heart away to a man with an incredible cute boy-next-door appeal — all in one film.
Fantasy fiction will mingle with the intriguing theme of re-incarnation, along with some contemporary relationship troubles in Raabta, out in the UAE cinemas on June 8.
Directed by Dinesh Vijan, the romantic thriller features the perennially-reliable actor Sushant Singh Rajput (remember his heft in M.S. Dhoni and Detective Byomkesh Bakshi?) and actress Kriti Sanon, who loves to feast on epics such as 300, Apocalypto and Braveheart.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the process of filming this movie. From our acting workshops to learning new skills for my role — learning how to make chocolates, learn horseback riding and a bit of mixed martial arts — was absolutely new and enjoyable,” said Sanon in an interview with Gulf News tabloid!.
But for her co-star, Rajput, there was some unlearning involved and mental conditioning at play as he accepted the dual role of Shivay (ancient warrior) and Shiva (the modern-day role).
“I don’t believe in re-incarnation as a concept and it takes a lot for an actor to be a part of a story whose focal point is something I don’t believe in completely…Suspending your own belief is not easy. But having said that, I knew that when you are putting more than a year of your life into a film, you shouldn’t completely understand it either,” said Rajput, who fell in love with the concept the moment he heard it.
The idea of playing two different kinds of roles in one film lured the lead cast to Raabta.
“Something like true love, undiluted with time and using the re-incarnation as a peg was interesting. I have diametrically opposite roles to play here — one a ferocious warrior whose instinct is to kill or to get killed. How can you say no to that?” said Rajput.
While he was game to play the warrior, it meant that he had to look the part. Rajput was always lean, but the actor had to physically undergo a transformation to look ripped.
Rajput’s trainer Samee, famously posted a chronicle of his pet client’s dedication on his Instagram account, with a before and after photo of Rajput with a lengthy caption: “We all need three important things to achieve what we desire in life — discipline, hard work and, before everything, commitment. It was Sushant’s character that got him of bed at 5am in the morning, his commitment that moved us into action for our daily workout, discipline that enabled him to follow through a fit and healthy lifestyle. Sleep for five hours, train insane for two hours, long, hectic 14-15 hours of shooting followed by IPL dance rehearsal for 2 hours.” While the ‘before photo’ showed a lean, but not necessarily buffed Rajput, the after photo showed washboard abs and sinewy muscle.
While the transformation was laudable, there’s no ignoring the fact that Rajput was racing against time and had only a few weeks to buff up. So was he tempted to use steroid or such performance enhancing substances to speed up the process?
“Any such kind of intervention will only give you short-term results and it screws up everything else for the rest of your life. I was a professional dancer and was into swimming and callisthenics, so for me I don’t think it [taking steroids] was an option,” said Rajput in a pragmatic tone.
For Sanon, it was about enhancing her endurance levels and strength so that she could keep pace with Rajput’s feline grace and speed. There’s a lot of running in dense jungles involved and she didn’t want to be left behind, literally in this case.
“For the flashback part, I learnt a bit of Mixed Martial Arts, including hand to hand combat, and I wanted to look convincing as a warrior who was used to employing those skills. It took a bit of effort. All the skills that I learnt was reflected in my confident body language,” said Sanon, who believes that chemistry between two actors is inherent and cannot be faked.
While the trailer has racked up good reviews and likes on social media, a plagiarism row has marred its climb.
The makers of Baahubali series, S.S. Rajamouli, has accused the Raabta team of alleged copyright infringement and claims that Raabta’s flashback portions bears an uncanny resemblance to their South Indian magnum opus Magadheera. While director Vijan has dismissed the claims, Rajput told Gulf News tabloid! that he was confident that no violation occurred.
“By seeing two minutes of a trailer, don’t judge the entire film. But after watching our film, if you still think it resembles yours, then go ahead. If that’s the case, we should be ashamed. But the ideal thing to do is to wait for the release of the film. I am sure it’s not a copy. I am a big fan of Rajamouli sir and I hope he likes what he sees,” said Rajput.
Fair enough.
The two haven’t let the scandal taint their experience of working on such a dream project. Mostly because the struggles were real and organic for these two actors. Weeks of filming in dense forests with no creature comforts was all in a day’s work.
“When we were getting ready for our scenes set in a jungle park with thankfully no animals, there were no vanity vans to get ready or to take rest. There were insects all round us, untamed foliage and we felt we were living in another time.”
But physical discomfort was a small price to pay for such a meaty role.
“As actors, there’s so much to do here…Raabta is a modern take on re-incarnation. The conflicts that you see here is something that everyone will relate to. The concept of doubting the other person you are with and doubting their feelings for you — whether it’s real or not — and questions like what if this person I am with is not the person that I am supposed to be with or what if I meet someone who’s my soul mate later … These themes will resonate with the current generation,” said Sanon.
Don’t miss it
Raabta releases in the UAE on June 8.
QUOTE-UNQUOTE
Sanon on whether chemistry can ever be created between two actors:
“Nobody told us that we need to work on our chemistry. In fact we never worked on it ... There are times, when people are in a frame and are not saying anything but you feel the chemistry ... Chemistry is not something that you should work on, you shouldn’t feel the need to work on it.”
Sushan Singh Rajput on acting:
“Convincing the audience that I am somebody else is a delicate job. When you are successful, you know the audience is not judging you but they are with you, living my experience.”
